How to Navigate the Modern Threat Landscape

Cybercrime is a problem that is only getting worse, and as you might expect, it’s no good for business. It puts your organization in a position where it has to take steps toward securing its infrastructure, whether you like it or not. Let’s go over some of the problems associated with cybercrime and why you need to implement these measures sooner rather than later.

The Current State of the Threat Landscape

To get an idea of what you’re up against, it’s important to know what the threat landscape looks like. Examining this gives you a broad expectation for what kinds of issues you might expect to see, and just like the landscape, it is always changing—never remaining stagnant for too long. There are countless threats out there that are always trying to thwart the efforts of even the most innovative security researchers and developers backing them up. What are you going to do to protect your business from these challenges?

What Are the Most Common Threats?

It’s often difficult to know where to start with security threats, as there are so many of them to cover, but the most common by far is phishing.

Phishing Attacks

Phishing occurs when a hacker tries to gain unauthorized access to an account. They might start as something like an email, a social media post, or a telephone call, oftentimes demanding swift and decisive action that flies in the face of reason. There will often be a plethora of warning signs to look for, but you might not notice them until it’s too late. The other threats we mention today are often spread through the use of phishing attacks.

Ransomware Threats

In terms of sheer danger and power, ransomware is the big one these days, as it locks down the files on your system to prevent access until you pay a ransom, usually in a form of cryptocurrency. This malware has evolved over time to become even more devastating. Nowadays, ransomware scammers use a double-extortion method where the data is stolen and threatened to be released on the Internet if the fine is not paid. It’s the worst-case scenario that millions of victims have had to face in recent years.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)

DDoS attacks use overwhelming amounts of network traffic to bring down your websites and systems. This traffic is facilitated by the use of a botnet, a network of infected and controlled devices. All at once, the infected devices use their normal online functionality to ping the target system over and over again, exploiting the protocols upon which the systems have been built to bring the network down. With so much traffic targeting the network, it grinds to a halt. DDoS attacks are often mistaken for other types of malware, and as such, they are difficult to stop before it is too late and the system comes crashing down.

There are other ways hackers can use to infiltrate your network, but these three methods are by far the most common and most dangerous. Be sure to consider them in your cybersecurity strategy.

How Do You Address These Threats?

To combat the problems associated with cyberthreats, we recommend the following three options:

Improve Awareness

The biggest thing you can do to protect your business is to ensure your employees are aware of the dangers these threats pose, something which also includes making sure they are aware of their own personal responsibility to keep your business safe. You should build a comprehensive cybersecurity training program that is updated periodically, then administer it to your staff. You can include information like how to create secure passwords, two-factor authentication, how to spot a phishing attack, and so on. When you train people about security, they will move through their day in a more cognizant fashion.

Update Your Infrastructure

Your business is made up of countless pieces of software, so make sure that it is all updated so that the latest threats can’t squeeze through an unresolved vulnerability. This also includes browser extensions. We recommend having a strategy in place to review your IT assets every so often to ensure they are patched, updated, and secured.

Test Your Systems

How do you know if there is a vulnerability in your network infrastructure? You test it. Penetration testing can give you an idea of how secure your network is and help to identify weaknesses that must be shored up. Horne & Benik can help you go about this process. We can provide a full report on your network’s health and recommendations we have for improving it.

How prepared are you to handle the constantly-changing threat landscape we work in today? Find out by contacting us at (603) 499-4400.