Cyber attacks are of various types that hackers use to hack your system. They can use one or a combination of attacks to fulfil their purpose. Some common types of cyber attacks are explained below:
- Ransomware Attacks – Ransomware attacks are common and usually done with the intention of extorting money. For this, cybercriminals gain unauthorised access to your system and steal confidential data about your clients and business. Once the system is hacked or data is stolen, these cyber criminals will inform you about the hack and convey their demand, which is usually asking for money.
If you give the attackers what they ask for, they claim to return your data. In such cases, cyber cells should be informed so that appropriate and prompt actions can be taken.
- DOS and DDOS Attacks – A Denial-of-Service Attack is a type of cyber attack in which illegitimate requests are sent to the targeted site. The system is bombarded with requests, which causes its resources to drain. It is done to the point where the site actually stops responding and leads to a shutdown. Distributed Denial-Of-Service attack is also similar to a DOS attack. In DDOS attacks, unwanted requests are sent from multiple locations or systems that are infected. It is also done to overwhelm the system so that it becomes vulnerable and stops responding.
Business competitors can do it as well to gain leverage from your vulnerability. This attack can also be used to assist other attacks, as when the site has stopped responding, it has become vulnerable to other types of attacks. A good solution to combat and prevent this attack is to use firewalls. Firewalls can help filter out unwanted and illegitimate access. It will only allow requests that are legitimate and ensure that the flow of the system is smooth.
- SQL Injections – This is another type of attack, which generally attacks the database and systems that rely on database servers. SQL is a Structured Query Language, and SQL injection is a query that is injected into the database to cause harm to the systems and data.
As the database contains various types of information about the company, unauthorised access to this data can be harmful to the organisation. The attackers can destroy, delete, alter, or spy on the data. Further, they can also shut down the database. All these things can be an absolute nightmare for any company.
It can be prevented by the right cyber security framework and using the least privileged model. In this model, only the user who needs to use the database according to their job can be allowed. So, even a person with a huge influence or higher position in the company will not be able to access specific areas of the database.
- Phishing Attacks – Phishing is another common type of cyber attack and is done to gain or fish for access that the attacker authorises. In phishing attacks, cybercriminals pretend to be a trusted website or company in order to gain sensitive information from the user.
When the user falls for the bait and provides the information or downloads some viruses or malware, their security is compromised, and they are not even aware of the attack. It allows the attackers to further gain access to your system and even contact others from your system.
The user’s knowledge and caution can prevent this type of attack. If you come across such a website or email that seems suspicious, do not enter any sensitive information. Also, do not click any link or download anything from the website, as it can compromise your security and allow the attackers to access your system.
- Brute Force Attack – It is a type of attack in which cyber criminals try to guess the right password continuously till they get it right and get access to your system. It is time-consuming and difficult. Hence, such hackers use bots to figure out your passwords. These cyber criminals give the bots a list of credentials that may give them access to the system. The bots then try each of the credentials until they successfully access the system.
It can be prevented by using a lock-out policy. In the lock-out policy, even if a person tries to get into your system, he or she will get a limited number of chances. Failing to access the account within these chances can freeze your account, which helps prevent your account from unauthorised access even if the hacker tries to hack your system using a different system and IP address. Use a lengthy, secure password because it can take a very long time (even years) to access the system using brute force attacks.
