Top Cybersecurity Threats to Watch & Tips to Avoid
Operating in today’s tech-forward landscape demands threat intelligence, preventive controls and agile responses that allow business leaders to identify potential cybersecurity attacks well ahead of time and implement measures that safeguard their organization from malicious activity.
As experts in helping businesses embrace the power of new technology while implementing measures that mitigate risk, we’ve outlined the top cybersecurity threats to watch plus some tips to avoid this happening to you.
What is cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity involves preventing malicious attacks or criminal misuse of networks, devices or data by ensuring that only authorized users are able to access vital company information and integrating measures that safeguard your organization from risk.
A solid cybersecurity plan requires the integration of technologies and processes that are specifically designed to reduce the potential for an attack to occur, including measures for network security, cloud security, endpoint security, mobile security, IoT security, application security and more.
What happens during a cybersecurity attack?
During a cybersecurity attack, external hackers will target company devices to cause harm to businesses, whether this involves restricting access to websites and company tools or stealing customer information.
When your business experiences a cybersecurity attack, any number of costly issues can arise: financial loss, the potential for the attack to spread to other entities you do business with, and a damaged reputation, to name but a few.
Top Cybersecurity Threats to Watch in an Increasingly Digital World
- Cybersecurity attacks on AI, IoT and cloud configurations
- Malware and ransomware cybersecurity attacks
- Business email compromises & social engineering cybersecurity attacks
- Human error
Cybersecurity attacks on AI, IoT and cloud configurations
Due to the increasing utilization of artificial intelligence, IoT and the shift to cloud configurations, there’s also an increase in the number of cybersecurity attacks an organization may encounter.
For example, switching operational processes from manual to digital or integrating cloud-based software means there are more areas of vulnerability that a malicious attacker can utilize to gain access to your company’s information.
In addition, while IoT implementations are certainly helpful for driving innovation and providing more visibility into your operations, having more connections to WiFi or Bluetooth also leads to more points of entry an attacker can take advantage of.
Malware and ransomware cybersecurity attacks
While not necessarily a new trend, malware and ransomware continue to be one of the leading cybersecurity attacks of today.
Malware attacks occur when a user takes control of company devices, causing lockouts to tools and stealing, deleting or encrypting data. Ransomware is a type of malware that can spread to other machines within your network, with the key difference being that the attacker forces business leaders pay a hefty ransom in order to regain access.
Business email compromises & social engineering cybersecurity attacks
Business email compromises such as phishing have increased by more than 175% over the past two years.
Phishing attacks occur when an external user attempts to steal safeguarded company information, such as employee login information, credit card numbers, banking information and more. These attacks take the form of emails sent to your employees to trick them into clicking on a link that initiates malicious activity by providing the attacker with a point of entry.
Social engineering includes the manipulation or influence of a company employee to reveal sensitive company information. These types of attacks can happen in person, over the phone or online and have the goal of corrupting data or obtaining valuable information, access or money.
Human error
Another leading cybersecurity threat of today involves human error, as employees can accidentally reveal sensitive company information in their conversations with other employees, clients or even friends. In fact, in 2022, over 95% of cybersecurity issues could be tracked back to human error.
How to Overcome Cybersecurity Threats
The best way to overcome cybersecurity threats is to develop a robust environment that not only has measures to safeguard your organization but also provides you with the opportunity to identify issues before they arise.
This often includes conducting cybersecurity risk assessments to help you understand which areas of your business may be vulnerable to attack and implementing better internal controls that stop malicious users in their tracks.
And, of course, it’s essential to ensure all users are properly trained on both the dangers of cyber-attacks and any new processes you implement to mitigate their effects.
Quick tips for overcoming cybersecurity attacks:
- Conduct cybersecurity assessments to foresee potential issues before they arise
- Audit security measures from third parties to ensure your supply chain isn’t vulnerable to attack
- Ensure your software and systems are up to date, as outdated systems often have more vulnerabilities
- Make regular backups of your data
- Only give access to accredited users
- Ensure your team is properly trained on the dangers of cybersecurity attacks
Need Support to Safeguard Your Organization?
Balancing cybersecurity challenges in an ever-shifting regulatory market creates additional complexities that can lead to reactive risk management.
At Bridgepoint Consulting, we translate insight to action by equipping organizations with proactive, on-demand solutions so you can embrace uncertainty, mitigate risk and empower organizational growth.
Contact us today or learn more about our risk services at the link below.
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