Hombolt | Advanced Custom Software Technology For Less
News

How to prepare for a Cyber Attack

Aug, 2022

Over the last few years, the risk and severity of cyber-attacks have increased. Indeed, since the year 2018, humanity has experienced the most heinous cases of cybercrime involving massive data breaches, microchip flaws, crypto-jacking, and a slew of other issues. Many ask themselves how to prepare for a Cyber Attack and purchase the most expensive anti-virus and malware security protection.

Hombolt-Blog-Image-61

It goes without saying that as technology advances and digital media becomes more widely used, attackers become more sophisticated. Furthermore, these cybercriminals prey on people and businesses who are less concerned about cybersecurity. To gain sensitive information, they target everything from a newly launched blog to an established online store.

The year 2021 has arrived, bringing with it the promise of a brighter future — but also the prospect of a long journey ahead. In this article, we will look at the cybersecurity trends that could pose a significant risk in 2021, as well as practical advice for reducing overall risk.

The first quarter of 2021 will be a turning point in cybersecurity. Business owners may be bringing employees back into the office while still balancing the risks and benefits of remote work. This provides an opening for malicious actors. From common compromise vectors to new threats, attackers constantly look for new ways to avoid IT detection, evade defense measures, and exploit emerging vulnerabilities.

The Next Big Cyberattack can happen Anytime soon!

Hombolt-Blog-Image-62

The Coronavirus is preparing for a large-scale cyberattack. In fact, within the next six months, we can see the biggest cyberattack in history.

Today, no one is talking about it. Most people aren’t thinking about fighting hackers. However, Coronavirus almost ensures that the phrase “largest cyberattack ever” will soon be plastered across the front pages. Every company’s virtual defenses have just been ripped open by the Coronavirus.

Employees who worked remotely were usually given particular work laptops with enhanced security before the pandemic hit. My friend, for example, works for the Irish tax authorities, which are similar to the IRS. He often works from home but only under strict supervision. He must use a separate, secure wi-fi connection and a dedicated work laptop.

To get past the welcome screen, he has to jump through various security hoops. To “unlock” work files, he must, for example, plug in a USB security stick. These safeguards make him challenging to hack, but not impossible. In a nutshell, this is the level of security required to keep hackers at bay. Coronavirus, on the other hand, has uprooted our lives in numerous ways. Hundreds of millions of Americans are being forced to work from home, which is one of the most noticeable disruptions.

The “Attack Surface” of every company has just exploded.

Almost every employee in every company in America works from their kitchen table as a makeshift desk. Companies had only a few days to put together remote work plans. So, you can bet that most of them didn’t set up secure systems like the one my friend uses. The vast majority of employees are unlikely to have dedicated work laptops. As a result, hundreds of millions of people access work files on personal laptops through unsecured home internet connections. Many of them are likely to contain sensitive information and personal information.

Hombolt-Blog-Image-63

For cyber thieves, this is a dream come true. To take control of an entire network, hackers only need to gain access through one entry point. They will steal data, secrets and even lock you out of the network once they’ve gained access. Hackers targeted remote employees in the networks of Lockheed Martin, America’s largest defense contractor. If they can break into this system, you can bet that unprotected remote workers will be easy prey. It’ll only be a matter of time before the headline “World’s Largest Cyberattack” appears on your screen.

Hackers have been targeting the US Department of Health in recent months. Attacks on the World Health Organization have increased by more than a factor of two. These are just the hacks that we are aware of. Cyber-attacks related to Coronavirus increased 600% from February to March, according to cyber intelligence company CYFIRMA. It’ll only be a matter of time before we learn of a significant cyberattack.

Cyber Attacks on Small Businesses

How to prepare for a Cyber Attack on Small Businesses by Cybercriminals. Small Business Attacked have definitely increased and are wreaking havoc on the public image. Cyber-attacks are becoming more common and more severe, especially against small businesses. According to industry experts, cybersecurity incidents are expected to cost companies more than $5 trillion in the next five years.

Malicious hackers are well aware that most small businesses are unprepared for network security breaches, making them easy targets for cyber-attacks. To protect sensitive information from ever-present cyber threats, smaller companies must adopt a robust security strategy. In the last year, 47 percent of small businesses have experienced a cyber-attack, with 44 percent of those experiencing multiple attacks.

According to Hiscox’s Cyber Readiness Report, the average cost of a cyber-attack has risen from $34,000 to just under $200,000 per incident. Many small businesses will be unable to recover from this setback.

Every business is vulnerable to a data breach, according to a cybersecurity firm. Image Small businesses in a wide range of industries are susceptible to data breaches. Security measures must evolve to support these sophisticated configurations as IT infrastructures become more complex to support today’scompanies’ rising digital demands.

Cybercriminals are already far ahead of the game, to the point where virtually every company will be breached at some point. It’s no longer a question of if, but when, a cybersecurity incident would strike a small business.

As cyber-attacks become more common, small business network security must become a top priority. Unfortunately, most businesses of this size are still on the wrong track. With cybercriminals exploiting network vulnerabilities that companies may be unaware of, developing a strategy based on your specific risks is critical to effectively mitigating these devastating attacks. Many businesses lack a contingency plan in the event of a data breach, let alone the necessary safeguards to prevent an infringement in the first place.

How can we protect ourselves?

It’s impossible to think that hiring out of this situation is an option, given the severe shortage of cybersecurity talent in the market before the pandemic. Fortunately, solutions based on advanced AI may be the answer we’ve been looking for. Due to overuse and under-delivery, the term AI tends to scare people away. Still, businesses can solve this problem by identifying and implementing helpful and efficient artificial intelligence-based cybersecurity solutions that don’t add to the workload of your already overworked SOC team but instead automate and increase productivity.

The only feasible solution to the impending “D-Day”-style attack is artificial intelligence. What about the existing tools, such as endpoint? How to prepare for a Cyber Attack and get the assistance necessary to defend ourselves?

Signatures are the foundation of traditional cybersecurity systems. Suppose you assume that any computer with endpoint software installed on it has a chance of failing. In that case, that chance suddenly increases by order of magnitude because it only takes one computer to become a host for the entire company’s network to be compromised.

Endpoint protection is insufficient and useless in this situation because the likelihood of the network being infected has increased dramatically. When we are not working remotely, the problem is very different because everyone is enclosed in a sort of envelope. Still, now that everyone is out, their network habits have changed dramatically, with much higher online shopping rates and visits to malicious sites related to COVID-19.

Keeping an Eye on the wire!

Because it’s just a game of probabilities, decoding all network traffic or what’s being sent and received over the wire and monitoring for anomalies is in some ways the only solution to the impending assault.

For example, if an IP acted strangely on the inbound side, perhaps moving laterally in an unusual manner and then exporting something out. Ifthat’susually not what that user should be doing, you might examine the wire but not the endpoint for traces of these actions.

There is no reason to downplay the importance of endpoint solutions. You still want to protect and monitor endpoints as much as possible; however, in this situation, users need an additional solution that monitors network interactions due to the rapid and overwhelming development of the attack surface.

The likelihood of one of your computers being infected and gaining access to the rest of the network has increased exponentially in tandem with the attack surface, making businesses more vulnerable than ever. It’s easy to conclude that we’ll be witnessing a major cyber-attack event soon. Nobody knows when it will happen, but we can do things to prevent it and mitigate the effects if it does. It’s almost like a pandemic: if a local government does an excellent job of shutting down businesses, keeping people inside, and implementing contact tracing, the pandemic will spread more slowly and cause minor damage.

Like that same local government, your security team will take steps now to prevent and contain an impending attack, such as introducing an AI-based solution to monitor and trace potential network weak points and detect attacks in real-time.

Will we soon witness the largest hack in history?

I believe that a serious, possibly disastrous attack could occur within the next six months. But if businesses are proactive in adopting these technologies, such as Unsupervised or Self-Supervised AI-based cybersecurity systems, the likelihood of such an attack will be significantly reduced. The concept is to detect and avoid contact. We want to prevent a single computer from infecting the entire network if it is hacked or infected. When a cybersecurity team is alerted, they may spend hours or even days sifting through thousands of false-positive alerts. Every second that passes means the network becomes more compromised. Simultaneously, an advanced AI system will monitor the network, sift through signs, and surface a potentially fatal attack in seconds. We need to be equipped with the most intelligent and advanced tools possible if we are to stop the world’s most significant cyber-attack before it causes disastrous harm.

There are numerous rules and requirements that your agricultural software solution must adhere to. For instance, the FDA, the FSIS, the EPA, the NPDES, or the GHGRP. Hombolt emphasizes the highest level of security that is compliant with most government agencies.

Categories

  • Technology
  • News
  • Coding