It’s no secret that there has been a steady increase in the number of cybercrimes carried out for the past few years. The third quarter of 2022 saw a sharp 28% increase in global attacks compared to 2021, with over 15 million data records exposed. Moreover, hackers continue to evolve their malware practices and methods of phishing, data breaches, and more.
To catch up, businesses and their IT teams need to learn about today’s most probable cybersecurity threats. Companies can then implement safety protocols and train their employees in best practices to avoid such dangers while IT teams patch and fix any vulnerabilities. Vigilance is key to avoiding these.
The 7 Biggest Cybersecurity Threats in 2023
Phishing
The most widespread threat for small and mid-sized businesses alike, phishing accounts for 90% of all data breaches. It’s a low-hanging fruit for hackers as they only need to send their targets one infected PDF or one link to a malicious site (a new one is created every 20 seconds), and the victim’s PC is compromised.
Phishing has also evolved to use AI technology and imitates texts and voices from trusted contacts, convincing victims to make transactions or hand over sensitive data. Combatting phishing is hard and requires social engineering and training.
Conversation Hijacking
Similar to phishing but more damaging, conversation hijacking involves hackers sending malicious content in the middle of existing email chains or breaking into trusted email accounts and initiating conversations naturally, so the end-user doesn’t think twice before installing a virus or sharing important data.
Malware
Of course, there’s malware as well. Malware is viruses, worms, ransomware, etc, often sent through phishing emails that steal or destroy data, hack servers, leak data records, or encrypt files- depending on what the attack intends to do. Malware can leave systems inoperable.
IoT Misuse
The internet of things (abbreviated IoT) is a system of interconnected devices. It connects them to the internet and can store and transmit tonnes of data. Unfortunately, it gives hackers convenient access to your networks and stored data. As IoT is quickly being adopted by companies globally, its misuse is one of the biggest new threats. Strong passwords and cloud security as essential.
DNS Spoofing
Also called DNS cache poisoning, DNS spoofing redirects traffic from your site to a fraudulent one, creating a nuisance for visitors. It poses a user privacy risk as the fake site closely resembles a real one, and any data put in there can be recorded. Interacting with the site can result in a malware attack too.
Man-in-the-Middle Attacks
Unlike conversation hijacking where a hacker takes over the communication channels, MitM attacks involve criminals silently positioning themselves in a normal conversation between users and applications. They can be used to extract data like login credentials, social security numbers, bank info, etc. E-commerce stores and SaaS businesses are typical targets. Using encrypted channels for all messaging is important.
SQL Injection
This common hacking technique involves hackers placing malicious code in your SQL statements on a webpage, infecting the backend database. The database can be manipulated to reveal confidential, hidden information. The attacker may even gain administrative access to your database and destroy it.
