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The rise of digital and information technology has created a new headache for businesses across the world. Just in the year 2020, the FBI states that cyberattacks grew 4x times as compared to the earlier years. To give you a rough estimate, the agency states that businesses cumulatively lost more than $1 Trillion because of cyberattacks in 2020 alone.
Needless to say, both these numbers are expected to rise in 2021 with the pandemic creating newer opportunities for cybercriminals. Before businesses can put in place measures to protect themselves against such threats they need to be informed and educated about them.
In this article, we look to discuss the top five cybersecurity threats that businesses should guard against. If you are a business owner or a CEO looking to put in place effective security and guarding mechanism then you should read this article till the very end.
List of the Top 5 Cybersecurity Threats Businesses should guard against in 2021
Phishing Attacks
The nature of phishing attacks has become so advanced that you will never know that the security of your system has been compromised. Experts state that phishing attacks are targeted mainly through emails.
We get emails from unknown ids and click on the links that are shared. This allows the hacker to establish a connection with your system and transmit malware. We must try to avoid clicking on links that are unfamiliar on emails at all times.
Ransomware Attacks-
By planting ransomware, cybercriminals try to extort money from businesses. Data suggests that the average cost of a ransomware attack is somewhere in the range of $4.5 Million. This means that both data and money can be extracted by engineering a ransomware attack.
Criminals plant ransomware with the intention of blackmailing the organization and steal sensitive customer information on the dark web. As you can imagine, this can destroy the company and lead to its closure. Companies pay up for fear of the breach going public.
Insider Attacks
Remote working has become a need of our times. However, when employees are working remotely the same cybersecurity disciplines that characterized an office space are absent. We are using personal systems, smartphones, and unsecured networks to gain access to data.
There is a reason for the four-fold growth in cyberattacks. A majority of them take place because of remote working vulnerabilities. Using effective certificate management, secure VPNs, and training employees concerning updating security software can help in mitigating this.
DDoS Attacks
DDoS or Denial-of-service attacks have become the chosen option for attackers ever since the pandemic started. A DDoS attack works by flooding the server or the mainframe by creating a huge flood of traffic. This results in the server crashing under the impact of so much traffic.
As soon as the server is down, hackers seize the moment to plant malware or ransomware. Businesses are not even aware that a DDoS attack has been engineered and simply mistake the issue for the downtime of a server. This is a sophisticated attack that needs adequate protection.
Cloud Attacks
With businesses moving their operations to the cloud, hackers are having a field day identifying cloud solutions that have limited security. Cumulatively, the cloud business is expected to grow threefold and hit nearly $300 Billion by the end of 2021.
If you have been following the news, you would have read how Blackbaud, a cloud solutions company was hacked and the data and millions of customers and businesses were released on the darknet. Businesses need to be careful when selecting a cloud solutions provider.
The Bottom Line
The nature of cyberattacks is only going to become more advanced with the passage of time. It is high time businesses realize that credible investments in cybersecurity programs are the only way they will be able to protect themselves against attacks and infiltration. If you want us to share any of the threats in detail, let us know in the comments section below.
