Cybersecurity

CYBERSECURITY :

RECENT ATTACKS, INSIDER THREATS AND PREVENTIVE MEASURES

As technology continues its forward march, so do the methods and means adopted by cybercriminals. Unfortunately, in this tug-of-war, hackers and other cybercriminals seem to have the edge- always finding ways to bypass innovative security measures. 2012 has witnessed several serious data breaches and other types of cyberattacks. The victims include some of the biggest entities in the corporate and even military world. Let us discuss some of them:

DOMINOS (INDIA) DATA BREACH AND LEAK

Dominos is a famous pizza brand not only in the west but also in India. But the brand, especially its Indian arm, suffered a significant image setback when a massive data breach occurred this year. The breach accessed and stole personal data provided for over 18 crore orders. Worse still for the company image, this data made its way into the dark web, available for sale.

The data leak was quite comprehensive and included personal details like email id, name, location and mobile numbers. But according to the firm, the essential part of the personal information- payment details, including credit card details remains safe.

THE MASS CYBER ATTACK ON MICROSOFT EXCHANGE

The mass attack on MS Exchange this year bears out that sophisticated cyberattacks are increasingly becoming. It affected hundreds of thousands of organizations, including 9 US government agencies besides millions of individual users. The attack took place through 4 zeroday vulnerabilities in the software. Microsoft assures us that the exploit has been subsequently patched.

No matter how sophisticated, complex or secure you make your computer and IT infrastructure, the human flaw remains. It assumes particular danger due to the increasingly remote nature of today's workforce.

THE ACER RANSOMWAREATTACK

Earlier this year, the ransomware group REvil suspectedly infected the Acer data storage system with ransomware. It demanded an unprecedented $50M to return Acer the control over its systems. In addition, the group used images of the data they had accessed to prove their "exploits."

INSIDER THREATS

The demarcation between personal and professional use is significantly blurred. The security implications of the comprehensive transformation of organizational structure, use of the cloud, and the rising number of people with malicious intent are added to that. Besides the various types of malicious intent, another factor makes securing remote workplaces an herculean if not impossible task- human error, oversight, and carelessness. Insider threats are people within the organization who might willingly compromise with ethical practices at their jobs and make unethical use of their data access privileges. The worst thing is that it is not for tech-savvy treachery to make digital trails end at a dead end. Consider the recent Verizon study, which found that insider threats lead to 57% of data breaches. Under such circumstances, the somewhat paranoid approach of "trust no one" might be indeed the way forward. mishap. The following steps canhelp businesses in ensuringbetter levels of security for their data and IT infrastructure

IMPLEMENT A CYBERSECURITY PLAN

Most businesses indeed cannothire cybersecurity teams. Still,considering the stakes, it wouldbe wise to at least put in place aplan to combat cybersecuritythreats. While trying toaccomplish this, you can look toNERC CIP for inspiration.

PREVENTIVE MEASURES

God forbid you to make the mistake of taking your firm's cyber-security lightly, then you are heading towards trouble. Not that taking a couple of steps will bulletproof your cybersecurity. But it can go a long, long way in preventing a cybersecurity

The cybersecurity guidelines of this non-profit corporation are the finest of their kind, making it a de facto industry standard. The agency, intended to safeguard bulk power systems in the northern US, has a comprehensive cybersecurity plan which includes everything from threat categories to recovery.

KNOWLEDGE IS PREVENTION

So you have documented worldclass security protocols. But few of your employees know about it. I don't think that would be too beneficial, would it? In the typical business, IT structure employees connect and access data from a database through their devices and then make backups to the cloud. But that means that you are one phishing email click away from hackers gaining access to your precious database. Furthermore, the employee himself might be completely oblivious of the great calamity he has brought to the organization. Such incidents are just one example. Be rest assured there are plenty of others. The key to getting around such threats is to ensure that all employees are keenly aware of common types of cybersecurity threats and attacks. The free US government provided training resources of "STOP. THINK. CONNECT.™" can prove to be much more than handy.

BACKUP,BACKUP, BACKUP

Sole, local copies of data are only inviting trouble. One intrusion and all your information goes to the air, not even with the whoosh warning sound! Backups are effective against ransomware attacks too. Suppose you have an unencrypted copy of your data. In that case, you don't need to pay to decrypt the copy a hacker has encrypted.

Don't underestimate ransomware; it has made individuals and organizations lose several hundred billion dollars. On yourpart, make sure that you can relyon the cloud service.

USE MULTI FACTOR AUTHENTICATION

While many users have gonebeyond their partners' names astheir passwords and use complexones instead, it is still of little use. You see, hackers have becomesavvier too and use complexalgorithms that can figure outeven complex passwords. Theway out of this is by using MFA or Multi-Factor Authentication and making it a point to change passwords frequently as routine.As you might have guessed, MFA adds additional authentication layers as OTPs sent to registered email ids or mobile numbers. So go ahead and add another third device to make the previously two-factor authentication methodan MFA one.

ALWAYS USE AN EFFECTIVE INTERNET SECURITY SOFTWARE

Phishing and other forms of cybersecurity threats can be highly sophisticated, and the most aware and alert of employees can fall prey to such a hacker tactic. Considering this adding another protection layer is extremely helpful. Internet Security software can keep you safe from malware and phishing emails, and identity theft. However, it is impossible to monitor and protect yourself fromall the components of a hacker's toolkit by yourself.

Therefore, a good internetsecurity software or software suiteis something all cybersecurity experts recommend. They are effective against the majority of such threats. Norton especially has an impeccable reputation in terms of safety.

SECURE YOUR WI-FI

Having wi-fi access to the net is convenient. Still, it also opens up new security vulnerabilities for you to negotiate. Businesses need to make sure that both office and home wi-fi networks are safe and secure. If someone hacks into an employee's remote home wi-fi, they can progress further into your company servers. It will take time, but hackers can do it. Here also awareness is the key and company personnel educated comprehensively on maintaining wi-fi security are thereal solution. One best practice isto make it mandatory for remoteworkers to log in to your serversonly through VPN connections.

BE WARY OF CLICKING ON LINKS

Malicious links and popups areother common ways yourbusiness or employee can fallprey to phishing attempts.Phishing leads to significantsecurity lapses like identity theftand sometimes evenransomware. Use special tools tofilter out such emails and use theemail service provider's spamfeature to the fullest. Also, makereporting all spam emails part ofprotocols. Some of them areindeed phishing attempts.

KEEP EVERYTHING UPDATED

eport that about four-fifths ofhacks are made possible due tooutdated software.

eport that about four-fifths ofhacks are made possible due tooutdated software.

KNOW WHAT'S IMPORTANT TO YOU AND YOUR BUSINESS

excellent virtue in cybersecurity, primarily due to the significant threat posed by insiders, as discussed earlier. In addition, it makes tracking and monitoring easier. And do monitor and record all suspicious and unauthorized logins and store the relevant data. Bottom line, better safe than sorry. The more robust and more comprehensive your cybersecurity, the lesser the chance of a breach or leak or ransomware attack.

Article by Bizemag Reporter Image Courtsey: Free Resources