I’m sure you’ve heard it before: cyber threats are constantly changing. But there’s a reason this information keeps being repeated: it’s true! Every business, big or small, is a target.

Staying ahead of cyber threats is crucial to protecting your data and keeping your operations running smoothly, but it’s also the piece of the puzzle that most SMBs are missing.

Let’s examine six of the most relevant cyber threats today! We aim to make cybersecurity more digestible by sharing practical ways to beef up your defences.

1. Phishing / Spear Phishing

The Cyber Threat:

Phishing is one of the most common forms of cyber threats. It uses technical trickery and social engineering to achieve its goals: attackers choose their targets carefully and assume the guise of a trusted source that victims are less likely to question.

It often involves sending emails with malicious attachments designed to steal personal information or leading victims to an illegitimate website that steals passwords, credit card details, business information, and other sensitive data.

Spear phishing is even more targeted, focusing on specific individuals or organisations!

How to Fight Back:

  • Train Your Team: Regularly train your employees to spot phishing attempts. Show them how to recognise suspicious emails, sketchy links, and unexpected attachments to minimise risk.
  • Email Filtering: Set up email filters to catch phishing emails before they reach your inbox. These filters can flag dodgy content and help keep your team safe from scams, completely preventing human error.

2. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks

The Cyber Threat:

Distributed Denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks target the resources of a server, network, website, or computer to take them down or disrupt services.

They overload a system with constant flooding of connection requests, notifications, and traffic. As a result, the system denies service requests from legitimate users.

DDoS attacks don’t benefit the attacker directly as they don’t steal any information; they compromise the systems so they can’t function properly! They can halt your operations entirely and result in damages worth thousands of dollars.

How to Fight Back:

  • Watch Your Traffic: Use tools that monitor your network traffic for odd patterns that could indicate a DDoS attack. Setting this detection will allow you or your IT team to act quickly when something seems off.
  • Limit Requests: Implement rate-limiting to control how many requests a server can manage from a single IP address. This prevents your server from getting overwhelmed and minimises DDOS impact!

3. Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) Attacks

The Cyber Threat:

An MITM attack occurs when hackers insert themselves between a client’s and a server’s communications.

Cybercriminals use session hijacking to control the victim’s sessions and gain access to resources or data. The most common method is IP spoofing, where the hijacker uses the IP of the trusted client to access unauthorised services from a server or application.

This unrestricted access to your business’s most secure resources brings clear downsides…

How to Fight Back:

  • Use VPNs: Encourage using virtual private networks (VPNs) to encrypt data on public networks. VPNs provide a secure way to communicate, making it hard for hackers to intercept and hijack your information.
  • Two-Factor Authentication: Implement 2FA to double-check user identities! This adds an extra layer of security, making it challenging for attackers to break in even if they get hold of your credentials.

4. Malware Attacks

The Cyber Threat:

Malware, or malicious software, is designed to compromise a system for a purpose.

A user can unknowingly download malware that infects a system and replicates itself. Malware, like software, can be designed to act in many ways.

How to Fight Back:

  • Install Security Software: Get antivirus and anti-malware software on all your devices. Along with other safeguards, scan your systems to catch any malicious software before it causes trouble.
  • Keep Everything Updated: Ensure all your software and systems are updated with the latest security patches. Closing security gaps is critical to keeping malware at bay!

5. Drive-By Attacks

The Cyber Threat:

Drive-by attacks use various online resources to compromise a user’s system. Contrary to other forms of cyber-attacks, a user doesn’t have to do anything to initialise the malicious software or virus. One-click on a pop-up window, or website link can do the job!

Drive-by attacks are increasingly used to spread viruses because they can run in the background, meaning they aren’t visible to users.

How to Fight Back:

  • Web Filtering: Use web filtering solutions to block access to known malicious websites. This helps prevent users from accidentally visiting harmful sites and allowing drive-by attacks to run.
  • Secure Browsers: Update browsers with the latest security patches and configurations to prevent vulnerabilities from remaining. Proactive updating is the best way to minimise the threat of a drive-by attack!

6. Password Attacks

The Cyber Threat:

Password attacks are simple: They enable cybercriminals to gain unauthorised access to user accounts and networks by using their passwords!

There are many ways to enact a password attack, from using unsecured passwords to someone in your office finding your password on a sticky note. Attackers may spy on your network, use decryption tools, or use brute force to break passwords.

How to Fight Back:

  • Password Managers: Encourage password managers to create and store strong, unique passwords for each account. This substantially reduces the risk of successful password attacks by making it much less likely for your passwords to be guessed!
  • Account Lockout Policies: Set up policies that temporarily lock accounts after several failed login attempts. This prevents brute-force attacks and alerts you to potential security threats as they occur! Combined with MFA, this significantly removes vulnerabilities.

Stay At the Forefront of Cybersecurity

Cyber threats are constantly evolving, but staying informed and proactive makes all the difference! Implement the above solutions to strengthen your cyber shield and secure your business.

Do you have any questions, or would you prefer an IT team to manage these solutions for you? Unified IT is here to help! Please get our free Cybersecurity Essentials Booklet at Your Business Needs a Cyber Shield.

By prioritising cybersecurity, you’re setting your business up for success. Please don’t wait until it’s too late!