In the age of growing threats, network security is constantly becoming an area of tremendous focus for businesses of all sizes. Whether you’re a large corporation or a small-to-mid-sized business (SMB), you can be a target for various types of network attacks that can damage your business in many ways. IT Consulting New Jersey can assist you in securing your business network from threats.
Businesses must be aware of various network security threats to protect their IT systems, software, and data.
In this article, we will discuss what network security is and some of its most common network security threats, and how to protect your organization from them.
What Is Network Security?
Network security is protecting a company’s infrastructure by preventing a wide variety of threats from entering the network or spreading inside the network.
A security architecture collects tools, processes, and procedures to protect networks and applications. Network security strategies include many different lines of defense that are automated. An effective network security strategy employs various layers of protection to protect the network and the applications that run on it. IT Support New York can help you with that. For example, one defense layer is a firewall to restrict access to and from the web. Firewalls can also monitor and block unauthorized traffic.
6 Most Common Network Security Threats
Here are the most common examples of security threats examples:
- Phishing
Email Phishing is one of the most common threats to network security. In addition, social engineering is a common way to access essential data such as login information, usernames, and credit card information.
These attacks may come in the form of instant messages or emails. First, the email recipient is tricked into opening a malicious link, which takes them to an unsafe website that installs a harmful program on the computer. Then, it can get your personal information by sending an email that looks like it’s from a bank and asking for your private information.
- Ransomware
Ransomware is a kind of malware that encodes a user’s files and demands a ransom to decrypt them. These infections are typically spread through infected emails or through infected files that are downloaded from malicious websites. Once installed, ransomware can disable your computer’s security measures, preventing you from accessing your files. It also can take the form of ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS).
Like software-as-a-service, the RaaS is used for ransomware. Cyberattackers can use the codes developed by RaaS dealers to build their cyberattacks. Black Matter, LockBit, DarkSide, and Ravil are some examples of RaaS.
- Cryptojacking
Cryptojacking is a tool for hackers trying to make money through financial scams. These attacks are like worms and viruses, except that instead of corrupting essential data, the main goal of cryptojacking is to steal CPU resources. With cryptocurrencies being hacked all the time, hackers are trying to trick their victims into installing rogue code onto their computers. They can use the victim’s computers for nefarious mining activities.
Mining is spending computation power to secure Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, or other cryptocurrency transactions. Mining is done by running applications with specialized hardware that solves complicated math problems.
- SQL Injection Attack
SQL injection is an attack that can inject malicious SQL code into a web application to exploit the database. This can allow attackers to access sensitive data or take over the system. However, many companies are now adopting these data-driven attacks to increase sales without dealing with customer or employee privacy concerns. In the end, a well-placed SQL injection can cost a company millions or even billions if you’re a big company such as Apple or Amazon.
- Insider threats
A network is vulnerable to hackers with privileged access to organizational systems. It is difficult to detect and protect against Insider threats because they don’t need to penetrate the network to harm. However, there are many ways to identify suspicious behavior by internal users. User and Event Behavioral Analytics (UEBA) can help identify internal users’ suspicious behavior, which can help identify insider attacks.
- DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service)
A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is when a network of computers tries to make a server completely inoperable by overwhelming it with messages from many different sources. According to a recent study, almost 33% of all businesses become victims of DDoS attacks. When it comes to DDoS attacks they can be a devastating problem for e-commerce websites; they are potentially losing millions of dollars every day by getting a victim of this dangerous attack.
Not all the computers were used for the attack by the attackers. However, most of the compromised computers had malicious software installed on them and were distributed around the globe.
How To Protect Your Organization’s IT Infrastructure
There are lots of ways that businesses can protect their data. A managed service provider can take many measures, but you and your staff must stay active and responsive to potential cyber threats.
You can protect your networks by:
- Back up your data and files regularly.
- Investing in comprehensive cybersecurity awareness training for you and your staff.
- Installing anti-malware solutions to protect your company’s network.
- Only authorized personnel should have access to your network’s security controls.
- Improve your security with multi-factor authentication, strong passwords, etc.
If you take cybersecurity seriously, you can reduce your company’s chances of becoming a data breach victim. This can save your company money and time.
Final Words
It is challenging to Keep track of all the security threats in the online world, where the media creates a culture of fear about sharing information and placing trust in leaving all of our data. However, the dangers that lurk in the dark corners of the Internet are more dangerous than you might think, and they can strike anyone.
The best thing we can do to avoid hacking a system is to be prepared. There must be a way to be sure that a system is secure. Ensuring that our systems are fully secure is what we need to do.
Post courtesy:Chris Forte, President, and CEO at Olmec Systems.
