The Most Dangerous Cybersecurity Threats
By:
Esma Nur
Jan 18, 2023 - 20:12
In the world of Cybersecurity, hackers are always busy circumventing various cyber defenses, and Security companies are always in a race to react to these emerging cyber threats.
In its latest report, Intel Security listed the cybersecurity threats of 2017:
Ransomware
Ransomware has recently shown an extraordinary increase in large or small-scale companies. According to the report published by SonicWall, ransomware attempts reached $638 million last year, up from $2.8 million in 2015. In addition, the report states that as much as $ 209 million was paid to ransomware in the first quarter of 2016 alone. Thus, the amount paid says a lot about malware developers who use this malware to earn a living.
Internet of Things - Botnets (Internet of Things and Botnets)
in late 2016, when a massive DDoS attack was launched on the DNS Service provider called DYN, the attack proved that many service providers are poorly equipped to handle the scope of recent cyber attacks. The Mirai Botnet was found guilty, and this example shocked the entire business community, which thought that security on IoT devices was only secondary. Therefore, IoT botnets are now in the second place in the list of threats. In a report published by Gartner, it is hoped that 8.4 billion devices will be connected to the Internet this year. Obviously there will be a lot of problems in the future.
Phishing and Whaling attacks (Phishing and Whaling attacks)
'Phishing' is a concept in which hackers send fraudulent emails from trusted accounts to target businesses through individual employees. When an unsuspecting staff member clicks on the email, the attachment tagged to the email starts October to release a malware capable of stealing the data. 'Whaling' takes the aforementioned cyber attack strategy to the next level by targeting high-value individuals such as the CIOs or CEOs of a firm. The FBI warned about this scam of all companies operating in the United States and abroad and confirmed that hackers managed to earn $ 3 million from such fraudulent transactions last year.
Business Process Compromise Attacks (Business Process Compromise Attacks)
Trend Micro has defined this concept of cyber attack as a relatively new phenomenon in which hackers use techniques to manipulate the daily operations of a business in their favor. For example, in 2013, drug traffickers from South America managed to block the Antwerp network in order to track the movement and location of containers. This operation helped him to pick up the cargo in a secluded place before the maritime police tried to arbitrate their operation. Therefore, in this case, hackers were used to compromise the business processes of a government company, avoiding law enforcement forces and financial gains.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (Machine Learning)
It seems that Artificial Intelligence technology serves both good and bad people. According to a recent Intel Security report, mechanical engineering is being used to launch social engineering attacks. If hackers have access to publicly available data, they can use sophisticated analysis tools to select targets more precisely and more successfully. For example, in the UK, hackers are accessing databases related to tax filing in order to launch ransomware-related attacks on people who have applied for the highest IT returns. This proves that the data available on public platforms can be used to launch attacks on individuals in order to print money.