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It’s not unusual to read about some cybersecurity attack against an organization every week. From attacks on videoconferencing software like Zoom to ransomware attacks that cripple organizations, the threats are growing alarmingly.
Multiple factors drive the escalating online breaches, and sadly, the threats will only spike in years to come. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to secure your company’s systems and fight back against threat actors.
Cybercriminals Are Becoming More Sophisticated
Some time ago, hackers realized that although computer viruses were chaotic, they weren’t particularly lucrative. A cybercriminal could infect your company’s computers with a virus or your network with a worm, but aside from wonton destruction of your critical files and folders, there was little to gain.
Today, cybercriminals unleash several types of malware on your company that can help them profit. As mentioned earlier, a ransomware infection is a quick and effective way for a hacker to blackmail your organization for money.
Likewise, a keylogger can help threat actors collect your critical data and commit various financial crimes or identity theft. For example, a hacker may read your customer’s confidential data with a keylogger and put it on the Dark Web for sale. Similarly, they may use spyware to steal even more corporate information.
Work Culture Has Shifted Online
With more people on the Internet today due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cybercriminals have more potential targets. The wide adoption of remote working procedures has also presented opportunities to those with malicious intent.
In their eagerness to shift to remote working, many companies didn’t take appropriate security measures. For example, most employees didn’t have threat recognition and response training. They also didn’t have secure computers, corporate VPNs, etc., to shield themselves from malware attacks.
We’ve Embraced Social Media
A social engineering attack is when a cybercriminal uses psychological manipulation to perform a malware attack successfully. Social engineering attacks have become easier to execute because more of our information is available online.
From Facebook and Twitter to LinkedIn, we openly share critical data that a hacker can use to design an attack on an organization’s employee. Threat actors start by gathering information and identifying a mark. Next, they pick an attack medium based on their target.
For example, they may target Fred from Finance with free accounting software loaded with ransomware malware in a Trojan horse attack. After examining Fred’s social media, LinkedIn, or hacking into his emails, they work on a narrative to trick him into making a grave security mistake.
How Can We Stop Cyberattacks?
Remote workers need cybersecurity education, secure corporate computers, and endpoint protection to shield their organizations from online threats. The right tools, like Malwarebytes Endpoint Protection — can secure organizations of all sizes, even with employees who prefer to bring their own devices.
Some cybersecurity experts claim that there are over 500,000 instances of new malware every day. Considering this, it’s essential to use endpoint protection software that uses heuristic analysis to remediate malware threats before they can harm your organization proactively.
As the surge in security breaches continues, any company must have the best cybersecurity measures in place. Only the most dependable endpoint protection software can stop ransomware, malware, trojans, rootkits, backdoors, viruses, brute force attacks, and “zero-day” unknown threats.