Date: 1/20/19

Details

In modern times cybersecurity’s relevance is becoming more and more needed as a result of the rapid increase in the use of technology. As technology becomes a growing key factor in the lives of individuals as well as organizations and businesses, the risk of cyber attacks and the devastating impacts that come along with them increase. Many cyber attackers are very innovative and as such cybersecurity is a lively field. With cyber attacks initiated to gain information, disrupt certain services as well as receive other advantages being a constant threat it is imperative that measures are taken to combat them. Most threat methodologies involving cyber attacks except for nuisances like spam and botnets have specific targets. According to SBIR, data theft by Advanced Persistent Threat Groups is targeted with the intention of economic or political advantages. Cyber crimes like credit card theft that leave their victims with tremendous losses have been problematic among unsuspecting individuals. Hacktivism is aimed at defamation of press and policy and Destructive attacks are aimed at disruption of operations like deletion of data. Types of cyber attacks are APT’s, DDoS, Inside attacks, Malware, Password attacks, and Phishing. The impact and consequences of cyber attacks are reasons to step up cybersecurity. With “Advanced persistent threats” a lot of time is needed to systematically gain information to avoid discovery. APTs consist of five stages which are reconnaissance, incursion, discovery, capture, and exfiltration. “Distributed Denial of Services”  involves overwhelming servers to shut down a network or website. Inside attacks occur when a person with administrative privileges misuse their access to gain information. Malware is programs that are introduced to cause damage or get unauthorized access. Passwords attacks involve figuring out passwords to gain sensitive information. Finally, phishing tricks people into giving out information through websites that look secure(“Tutorial 2: Introduction to Cyberthreats SBIR.gov”, 2019). Overall these methods are used creatively by cyber attackers in order to gain their targeted outcome and hence measures should be taken. In conclusion, our current threat landscape demands that cybersecurity should not be taken lightly.              

References

Tutorial 2: Introduction to Cyberthreats | SBIR.gov. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.sbir.gov/tutorials/cyber-security/tutorial-2