Have you ever wondered why cyber attacks occur, how easy it is for them to occur, or how to protect yourself from them? This post will explain the global context of cyberattacks and how cybersecurity has come to play a leading role.
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Global context
According to the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Global Cybersecurity Program 2022, ransomware attacks on companies increased by 151% during the first six months of 2021. An average of 270 attacks were calculated for each company, representing a more than 30% increase compared to 2020.
However, cyberattacks not only threaten all companies in the world but also governments and ordinary citizens.
The top three threats that experts have identified with the greatest concern are:
- Infrastructure damage: A cyberattack could mean damage to the electrical, energy, transportation, and telecommunications systems of a city or an entire country. Authorities are concerned that such an attack could occur during an international conflict.
- Identity theft: Phishing, a social engineering strategy that tricks the user into carrying out transactions or revealing sensitive information, is becoming more common every day. These traps arrive mainly through emails and SMS.
- Ransomware attacks: One of the most destructive cyber attack out there. The term comes from the word ransom since these malware demand payment from the victim to restore the damage done to the computer.
Why are there cyber attacks?
In cybersecurity, one must act under the premise that, sooner or later, an incident will occur. In other words, it is not a question of if a cyberattack will happen but when. However, many companies have not yet invested in hardening their computer systems from possible malicious code or malware.
- Lack of investment
In every company's list of threats, the risk of a cyber-attack is almost always overlooked. However, a piece of malware is enough to destroy all the valuable information of a company and put it out of business.
Similarly, many companies have the capital to invest in cybersecurity but still fail to do so. As a result, some have been hit with ransomware and have been forced to pay large sums of money to get their data back, with no guarantee that they will get it back.
Therefore, it is better for everyone, both individuals and institutions, to invest in cybersecurity and learn about it beforehand.
It is very likely that, soon, governments will pass laws that force companies to invest in cybersecurity, which requires both tools and personnel. This would be a great job opportunity for programmers interested in this topic.
- There is no 100% security
Although this should not discourage us from investing in cybersecurity (quite the contrary), it is difficult to achieve absolute protection against hacking attacks. This largely explains why there are cyber-attacks.
A company's cybersecurity depends on many factors, such as human error. For example, an employee may click on a link that infects her computer; he might download and run malware, thinking he is installing software.
In addition, the failures can come from multiple ways since some programming codes are always developed at the hands of third parties.
This opens the door to different attacks, ranging from phishing to directly installing malware on computers via USB.
Conclusion
Some habits will strengthen the security of your data (both personal data and those of your company). Such as constantly updating your operating system, not using unknown Wi-Fi networks, and making frequent backups. In the worst-case scenario, the backup copies will save all your information.
In the field of cybersecurity, you will face endless threats and cyberattacks. Cyberattacks occur for a variety of reasons, ranging from the most basic, such as a virus contained in an email attachment, to the most complex computer viruses and worms.
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