Common Types of IT Security Risks: How to Prevent them?

Many different types of IT security risks can affect a business. It is essential to know about the implications, how cyber risks can be identified and what you need to protect against them. In this connected world, cyber attacks are a common occurrence. As long as the internet exists, there will be information security risks and malicious attacks that come with it. Ranging from minor nuisances to devastating consequences, hackers never seem to stop attacking your data! This blog post will discuss the most common types of cyber security risks and share tips for risk management.

Cyber security threats

Cyber security has finally breached the public consciousness and we all know how important it is. With so many of our personal details and information about our lives available online, it’s no surprise that there is a huge industry built around the protection of this sensitive data. In this article today, we will attempt to provide an overview of what you need to know in order to protect yourself from various cyber security risks. These risks are born out of different landscapes based on an organisations’ assets i.e. cloud security risks, on-premises infrastructure, vendor-supported services or third-party supply chain risks.

Lack of a risk management regime

To stay on the cutting edge regarding cyber security, companies should take a proactive approach. Businesses can’t afford to ignore cyber security. Just as they seek outside expertise for legal and financial matters, they should be looking now – or even sooner than ever before- for experts in cyber security and data privacy.

Prevention

A company must establish its own policy to decrease IT security risks faced by them;

• perform risk assessment related to cyber security
• create policies on risk management and how it will govern itself with regards to this issue (and plan out any necessary oversight processes)
• seal off access points where unauthorized personnel might infiltrate their system
• The company cannot ignore cyber risks associated with vendors and other third parties.
• You must detect unauthorized activity and probable cyber attacks so it doesn’t cause harm to your organization.

Malware

Malware, or “malicious software,” is an umbrella term that describes any malicious program or code harmful to systems.

Malware seeks to invade, damage, and disable computers by taking partial control over a device’s operations to cause havoc on the system with no concern for who it affects – children’s online gaming experience may be interrupted when malware floods their favourite game with pop-ups. World Economic Forum has added cybersecurity to the core risks in this modern world. 78% of the employees put data at risk inadvertently.

At the same time, your work productivity suffers from being constantly bombarded by notifications of fake emails you never actually sent. When this happens, our everyday lives can suffer greatly as we’re forced into time-consuming procedures meant to clean up after these nasty intruders. Different types of malware with examples is discussed in our separate article to help users understand various forms.

Password Theft

It’s a well-known fact and a big cyber risk that most passwords are stolen in data breaches from popular online services. As we now live more and more of our lives on the internet, any hackers who have access to these accounts can do just about anything they want with them!

It only takes one account compromised for your cyber kingdom (or whatever you call this place) breached. Protecting yourself from this security threat is so important – not only will you feel safer but also able to get back whenever life happens, and someone else needs access too quickly or urgently.

How to set a secure password?

The best passwords, recommended by cyber security professionals, are ones that have a lot of numbers, letters and symbols. You should never use your name or any other sensitive information related to you as the password because hackers can easily find out those details about you online; instead, think up something creative with difficult-to-guess words mixed in.

Bring-Your-own-Device Policy

Cloud services and bring your device trends have allowed businesses to cut down on capital investments, adopt solutions like mobile devices at work, increase convenience for employees and productivity; however, these measures also leave businesses vulnerable to cyber security breaches. This is because personal devices can be easier targets than company-supplied ones, giving attackers an opening order to compromise data or breach networks.

Prevention

To reduce this risk you must review policies with all staff members about how best they should handle their digital privacy when using cloud-based systems – are there any precautions we need to take?

Interception

Not all problems can be solved by picking up strong and complex passwords. Additional measures such as encryption in transit, transportation channels and related security measures are important against data interception threats.

You may not think about it often, but your data is transmitted in a “stream” of digital information when you are on the internet. The traffic between your system and an online server (website) can be intercepted by third parties who want to steal valuable information from you, such as log-in credentials or personal data.

Prevention

There are ways that people employ for these bad actors to eavesdrop, which include compromising websites (such as those without HTML5) or using strong encryption methods like VPNs over public networks like WiFi hotspots.

Patch Management

Software developers are human, so it’s impossible for them to write perfect code that never has a bug in it! If you follow any tech news at all, it’s like once a week, and someone is discovering or releasing a vulnerability into the wild for hackers to find and exploit! That’s where patch management could be an effective strategy to decrease software vulnerabilities.

Patches are software code fixes that repair broken functionality, add new functionality, or repairs security holes in the software. Patching is a bit of an art form. Sometimes patches are the best solution. Other times, they can cause more problems than if you didn’t patch them.

It’s like when Windows releases security updates – sometimes those updates break something or introduce new bugs that weren’t there before and make things worse! When this happens, patches are released so people can defend their systems from these vulnerabilities being exploited by attackers looking to take advantage of them.

Phishing

Phishing is a type of social engineering attack often used to steal user data. An attacker, masquerading as a trusted entity, dupes the victim into opening an email or text message and then steals their information such as login credentials and credit card numbers.

If an organization succumbs to this kind of attack, it will most likely experience severe financial losses in addition to declining market share, reputation, and consumer trust.

Prevention

Fortunately, there are ways for you can protect yourself from these types of cyber security threats!

• Two-factor Authentication (2FA) adds another layer when logging onto sensitive applications, which helps prevent phishers from accessing your personal information like passwords or bank accounts with ease. Two-Factor Authentication is great, but it’s not a cure-all.
• Organizations should also enforce strict password management policies to keep data secure and phishing at bay.
• Educational campaigns can help promote the correct security practices of clicking on email links only if you trust them.

Cloud Infrastructure

Cloud infrastructure can be complex, and we all know that complexity is the enemy of security. While most cloud security experts agree that companies can benefit from the security solutions built into the cloud, organizations still make grave errors and expose critical data through misuse or improper use of team member credentials.

The single biggest perceived risk in a company’s move to Cloud computing is unauthorized access through improper authentication methods and misuse by employees (who typically hold privileged credentials) using insecure API’s when accessing sensitive organizational data stored on SaaS applications hosted securely offline.

Social Engineering

Social engineering attacks are a form of hacking that utilizes clever tricks to get sensitive information like passwords and other personal details.

Social Engineering might involve calling up the help desk for an organization posing as one of their employees or sending out emails with attachments containing malware disguised as invoices from major companies who offer products and services your company uses.

Social engineering attacks are on the rise, and unfortunately, even the best cyber security systems cannot reliably stop them. This can occur on any platform, and malicious parties will often go to great lengths to accomplish their goals – like utilizing social-media info.

Prevention

The best defence is to educate your employees about following laid out protocols and always being aware of things that look suspicious or unusual in conversations by never revealing personal information online without first verifying its validity with a trusted individual.

Man-in-the-Middle attack

A Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack is an act of relaying information between two parties, usually without the knowledge of either party. The MITM attack is used to capture the data being transmitted and often alters it.

How MITM is accomplished?

MITM attacks can be accomplished in a variety of ways, however, they are most commonly done through Wi-Fi access points or by using a rogue cellular connection that tricks your phone into connecting to another network instead of its intended network.

The hacker generally cloaks itself in a spoofed IP address and disconnects the other person then requests their information or otherwise causes damage from them unknowingly even though two legitimate participants of conversation are both unaware that one participant (hacker) can affect them either’s outcome until its far too late.

MITM attacks are devastating to the security and safety of an organization as they can be used to capture sensitive data, plant malware, or interrupt service.

Prevention

MITM attacks can be prevented by not using public Wi-Fi, downloading files from trusted sources (like your organization’s website), and being wary of any service changes when accessing websites/data through the cell phone carrier.

Ransomware

Ransomware is a form of malware that locks up your system or encrypts all the data on it until you pay for the key to unlock.

A nasty variant of malware, ransomware installs itself on a user system or network. Once installed, it prevents access to functionalities (in part or whole) until a “ransom” is paid to third parties.

Prevention

Removal isn’t easy once the attack has been successful but there are some things you can do before an attack succeeds in order to protect your data and prevent any damage from being done.

• Keep anti-virus updates and avoid clicking on malicious links.
• Make sure that current backups of replications exist so that another backup will be available if one fails.
• Have legal guidelines tailored towards specific operations which may not apply across the board for all businesses depending upon their industry?

Water-Hole Attack

A water-hole attack is a hacking technique that targets the devices of one or more persons, exploiting vulnerabilities in the software they use.

In the modern world, water hole attacks are a common occurrence. A group of attackers will infect websites that particular organizations frequently use to load malicious scripts onto their computer systems and other digital devices.

Prevention

These types of cyber-attacks can be prevented through anti-virus software passively identifying dangerous scripts on infected sites or by default not allowing any website scripts if your enterprise suspects an infection has occurred.

Cyber security threats don’t seem to be slowing down. In fact, they are only getting more complex and devastating. So businesses must take active steps in protecting their data by implementing holistic security measures anchored with a cyber-risk management plan!