Cybersecurity is the foundational strategy to secure organizational data. Businesses across various industries are susceptible to various cyber threats in a way. Data security against cyber threats and cybercriminals has been an ongoing battle. One such cyber threat is Intrusion Attempts.
The motive behind intrusion attempts is to bypass existing security measures & to gain access. Cyber intruders try ways to breach a system’s defences and compromise its security. Compromising security leads to breaches, financial losses, and damage to an organization’s reputation.
What are Intrusion Attempts?
The intrusion attempts are by three severity types: low, medium and high. Low-severity hits consist of things like scanners and pings, actions which are not malicious and pose no threat to the target.
Medium and high severity intrusions are also called malicious intrusion attempts. These occur when a cybercriminal attempts to gain access to a system or resource by exploiting a vulnerability or weakness without authorization.
The vulnerabilities that are being exploited are made public. As patches aren’t carried out at the same rate, cybercriminals leverage such unpatched systems to gain network access.
A tedious and dangerous scenario are zero-day vulnerabilities. Once inside the network, cybercriminals can move laterally and establish persistence by exploiting other internal vulnerabilities in unpatched systems and software.
Some Well Known Types of Intrusion Attempts
Brute Force Attacks
Cybercriminals try to gain access to a system by repeatedly inputting possible usernames and passwords until they find the correct combination. It is a time-consuming technique. Passwords of various combination probabilities file would be uploaded in this attempt. It is effective if weak or simple passwords credentials are used by users.
Password Spraying
Cybercriminals might use a limited set of common passwords against many user accounts. Sad truth being, people do use basic passwords where cybercriminals don’t even break a sweat to crack them.
Phishing
Cybercriminals use Phishing attacks to target masses randomly. Creative phishing links are crafted to lure users into revealing usernames and passwords. They impersonate as legit entities via email, websites, etc.
Malware & Vulnerabilities
Cybercriminals may use malware to infiltrate systems and networks. They also leverage vulnerabilities underlying in software or systems to gain unauthorized access. These could be Viruses, Worms, Trojan Horses, Ransomware and many more.
DoS & DDoS Attacks
These cyberattacks are launched to overwhelm a network or system with excessive traffic or requests. This renders the targeted site or network or system to become unavailable to legit users.
Port Scanning
Cybercriminals may scan a network for open ports and services to identify potential vulnerabilities that can be exploited.
Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) Attacks
Cybercriminals intercept or manipulate communication between two parties to gain access to sensitive information. These cyberattacks are like eavesdropping in reality.
SQL Injection
Cybercriminals inject malicious SQL queries into web forms, sites where users input credentials. Cybercriminals retrieve the credentials put by a user to gain unauthorized access to a database.
Zero-Day Exploits
Zero-Day exploits leverage vulnerabilities that are unknown to the software vendor or have not yet been patched.
How does Intrusion Attempts Impact Businesses?
The consequences of intrusion attempts on businesses can be severe and far-reaching.
Data Breaches
Successful intrusion attempts could lead to data theft or leak of confidential data of any kind. This can result in regulatory fines, legal liabilities, and reputational damage.
Financial Losses
Businesses can incur significant financial losses due to the costs associated with investigating and mitigating security breaches. It also could include reimbursing affected customers, and implementing security improvements.
Operational Disruption
Intrusion attempts can disrupt business operations, causing downtime and lost productivity. In the case of ransomware attacks, organizations may be forced to pay hefty ransom to regain access to their data and systems.
Reputational Damage
A security breach can erode customer trust and damage a company’s reputation. It impacts the clientele base.
Legal and Regulatory Consequences
Non-compliance with data protection regulations can result in legal actions, fines, and penalties.
Secure Your Business Against Intrusion Attempts
Implementing Strong Security Solutions
Deploying robust security solutions considering NextGen Firewalls, Intrusion Prevention systems, DLP solutions, Encryption protocols, Multifactor authentication, Identity Protection etc as basis starting point.
Software Patching
Making sure all the systems and software are running in current version. Keeping them up to date reduces the possibility of vulnerabilities due to unpatched systems.
Access Control
Implementing robust access controls on a privileged access basis. Formulate actions on who and which level of users can access sensitive data and systems.
Incident Response Plan
Devise a comprehensive incident response plan to address and mitigate security breaches when they occur.
Monitoring and Security Audits
Continuously monitor network traffic for unusual activity and conduct regular security audits. Look at outsourced SOC services to get the threats monitored 24X7.
Cybersecurity Awareness Training Workshops for Employees
Educate every employee in the organization on their cyber responsibility. When it comes to cybersecurity, every user accessing company data is a liability. It is crucial to educate and make the employees – “Cyber Heroes“ of the organization.
Wrap Up
Intrusion attempts pose a significant threat to businesses. Businesses must invest in implementing the best Cybersecurity solutions to their cyber environment.
Educate employees on the tactics being employed by cybercriminals. It could come in handy at the time of need as employees are the main target for cybercriminals when other methods fail.
About SNS: Collaborate with SNS for the best Cybersecurity Consultancy and Implementation Services. We also provide Cybersecurity Awareness Training Workshops for Corporates.
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Swathi
Author
Working IT professional and a Cyber Security enthusiast. Passionate to write about Cyber Security topics and Solutions. I share my insights as I study articles and trending topics in the field of Cyber Security.
