Preparing for Tomorrow’s Cyberattacks, Today

The idea that cybersecurity will always be a major concern isn’t an extreme one. All one has to do is consider some of the threats we’re just starting to see now. Let’s take a few moments to consider what today’s threats might tell us about tomorrow’s.

What Do Today’s Cyberthreats Look Like?

Today, many cybercriminals tend to use a few specific tactics, so much so that they’ve even hit the public awareness in the news. Let’s begin by touching on these well-known threats so we can get a benchmark of what we might expect later.

Phishing and Ransomware Pair Well for Cybercriminals

Phishing—or deceiving a human user into handing over the keys to data, if not the data itself, instead of attempting to undermine the infrastructural security in place—is an effective (and therefore common) tactic amongst cybercriminals. This effectiveness makes it a frequent choice to spread ransomware. Ransomware, as too many have learned firsthand, is a nasty bit of malware that encrypts a system’s data and threatens to delete it unless a ransom payment is received within a set timeframe.

It has recently become common for those who use ransomware to also steal the data they encrypt so they can also threaten to leak the data to try and garner a second ransom. This makes it particularly important to prepare your team to deal with either kind of threat. We’ll explore this a bit more later on.

Identity Theft is on the Rise

Really, it only makes sense. At a time when a huge amount of people are receiving financial assistance from the government and other sources, cybercriminals have jumped at the chance to take advantage of these programs. Between pandemic assistance, unemployment, and social media data stolen via employment features on Facebook and LinkedIn, identity theft is projected to go up.

Password Practices Still Haven’t Improved

It may surprise you that passwords—the default identify verification option for generally every account you have—aren’t all that secure. This is before you even consider how often people take shortcuts with them, reusing them or otherwise shortchanging their security. You need to do everything in your power to ensure that your entire team is using passwords that meet the high standards of modern cybersecurity.

IoT/IIoT Attacks

The Internet/Industrial Internet of Things has permeated modern life, generally because of its overall usefulness. Unfortunately, not all of these devices come with sufficient security to match. If you aren’t careful, your business could be left vulnerable by these devices.

Insider Threats are Rare, But Do Exist

While actively malicious insiders are exceptionally rare, yours may just be the business that houses the statistical anomaly. More likely, one of your team members takes a shortcut or falls to some selfish temptation for their own benefit. Implementing access controls can help you minimize the damage done by such activities, amongst other safeguards.

What Should We Expect from Future Cyberattacks?

Honestly, much of the same. The big difference will likely be the tools and methods used to commit very similar acts. Phishing may eventually be more of a hassle than whipping up a quick deepfake to get past access controls, especially if insecure voice assistants can provide the data needed. So, in essence, tomorrow’s cyberattacks will likely be the same we see today, just carried out differently.

How You Can Protect Your Business

Lock It Down

Between your cybersecurity software and your access controls and other physical security measures, you need to put as many obstacles between your data and someone who wants to access it as you can. These obstacles will also need to be tested so that you know your data is reliably secured, motivating any attackers to move along to easier prey.

Encrypt Everything You Can

Adding to your data’s security, encrypting it effectively makes anything an attacker gets functionally useless. Encrypting data as it is stored and transmitted helps prevent a data breach, even if data theft does occur,

Turn Your Team into a Cybersecurity Asset

Why leave your team to continue to make your data less secure when a bit of training can turn them into another defense? A trained team is less likely to fall for phishing, so teaching them to watch for it will help minimize the threat it poses. Implementing and enforcing security-first processes is a surprisingly effective means of protecting your operations.

The more that businesses rely on technology for their processes, the more important cybersecurity becomes. This makes it crucial that you put yourself on the right track now. We’re here to help, so give us a call at (978) 482-2020 to get started.