How To Keep Your Business Safe From Cyber Attacks

Technology advancements and digital access have given businesses plenty of opportunities to expand and grow their operations. As with almost anything in life, they don’t come without their shortfalls too. Most businesses have been exposed to some form of cyber crime, whether they are aware of it or not.

Cyber criminals have taken advantage of the fact that almost every company requires online connectivity in some form or other. Their hacking methods have become increasingly sophisticated, which has made the need for education on cyber crime even more of a necessity.

 

What Are Cyber Attacks?

 

Cyber attacks are the intentional effort by hackers to gain unauthorised access to a software system. Their objectives are either to steal information for fraudulent purposes, extort money from businesses or destroy data. While businesses are usually the target, individuals with no security measures in place can also be easy pickings for hackers.

Cyber criminals can work alone or in crime syndicates, and can carry out their hacking from any location. Most attacks are financially-motivated, particularly when they block an organisation’s access from their own data. In order to retrieve it, they are forced to pay a ransom amount.

 

Cybercrime In The UK

 

According to a report from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, 50% of UK businesses experienced a cyber security breach in 2023. 58% of large businesses were targeted, while 29% of small businesses were affected. 66% of charities who received a yearly income of £500,000 or more also reported cybercrime attempts.

Cybercrime rates have continued to rise, and increased by 64% compared to 2022. Cybersecurity Ventures revealed that costs of damage as a result of cybercrime is expected to increase by 15% every year until 2025. That would bring the total amount of damage to around £8.4 trillion.

On average, hacking attempts happen around 2,244 times per day. These are usually aimed at trying to access usernames and passwords to retrieve personal information. While they aren’t always successful, this means that an attempted hack takes place every 39 seconds.

 

 

Common Types Of Cyber Attacks

 

For both organisations and individuals to prevent cyber crime, it’s necessary to know about the most common types of attacks and how to be able to spot them.

 

Phishing

 

Phishing attacks occur when hackers attempt to impersonate a legitimate person who the target is familiar with. If the target is a business employee, they may act as another employee from a different department. In this case, they will use the false identity to request access to passwords or credit card information.

These attempts are usually carried out through e-mails, containing suspicious links that will capture the information once it’s clicked on. Any e-mails that ask for personal details, have links or poor grammar should be reported and removed.

 

Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) Attacks

 

When these occur, hackers will intercept and access communication between two parties, or between a user and a website. This happens without people realising that their data has been intercepted, and the hacker can proceed with stealing information.

These commonly take place when public Wi-FI networks are used, as these are not password encrypted and available to anyone to use.

 

Ransomware

 

Ransomware is a form of malware that blocks a company’s information from authorised access. The data can only be unlocked using a decryption key. In this case, hackers will demand an amount to be paid to them before they will release the key.

Hackers will usually start with a phishing attempt, and once they have gained access to the computer’s system they will load the malware onto it that encrypts the information to be inaccessible.

 

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks

 

With DDoS attacks, cyber criminals will use Internet traffic to flood a server or network until it becomes overwhelmed. The system will either slow down, or can crash completely. The objective is to interfere with business operations for a period of time.

 

SQL Injections

 

This is a type of technique where hackers inject codes into a system to disrupt a website’s database. From there, they are able to access data to take information or change the data. Websites that have a poorly-coded web application are more vulnerable to these attacks, but a web application firewall can prevent these from happening.

 

How To Prevent Cyber Attacks

 

Businesses who are proactive about their cyber security measures are less likely to be impacted by cyber crime, which can be costly in damages. Employees should be regularly kept up-to-date on new potential threats, and report any suspicious online activity to the IT department.

All passwords should be unique from each other, and contain a combination of numbers, letters and special characters to make it harder to hack into. It is recommended to change passwords often, and implement two-factor authentication where possible as an additional security measure.

Systems, applications and anti-virus software should be updated when new updates become available, as these usually have anti-crime features already built-in. Investing in firewalls and systems that detect potential intruders and threats can also alert businesses to threats before they escalate.