Top Cyber Threats Your Business Needs to Be Aware in 2021

Cybercrime will never go away, and, therefore, your efforts to prevent it should never be lax. Understanding the latest cybersecurity threats is one of the most important steps that you can take because, without that knowledge, every effort you make to counteract the attack is going to be blind. Know your enemy, and you can defend against it.

Cybercrime, like everything else, has trends. These trends make it easier to understand what to look out for and, more importantly, how to prepare. It isn’t just your business that you need to prepare, however. For a full, robust approach to your digital security, you, your security, and your employees must be trained and aware of these top cyber threats:

Identity Theft

One of the more nefarious methods of fraud is identity theft. Only today, it’s become easier than ever. Synthetic identity theft works by creating a false credit file on a real tax identification number (SSN or otherwise). Dealing with synthetic identity theft requires a comprehensive understanding of what it is, and the best way to combat it is through machine learning. Machine learning works to track behaviors so that anomalies can be registered and notified to you and to take additional steps to restrict further actions from the fraudulent account.

Social Engineering

Social engineering is a type of phishing that uses a combination of good design with human psychology to convince employees to open up the back door to their own company. A click on a wrong link, and suddenly a virus is downloaded. The worst part is that this doesn’t actually have to happen at your office. An employee can be targeted at home, download a virus to their personal computer, and if they bring that laptop to their place of work and connect to your servers, then the virus will be uploaded.

As phishing attempts rely on login access, restricting access is the best way to combat them. This should be adopted throughout your business so that employees cannot be either a willing or unwilling source of a breach.

DDoS

DDoS attacks are up in the millions and work to cause downtown for sites and apps alike. For big businesses, this means a massive loss in revenue and a very frustrating experience for their customers. DDoS attacks have seen a resurgence in the last year, thanks in part due to how many are working from home. The means to stop DDoS attacks often include machine learning and simple AI watchdogs that analyze behavior and stop DDoS attacks before they cause your site to shut down.

Malware and Ransomware

The oldies are the goodies in the world of cybercrime. Malware and ransomware are also two of the most deadly for businesses. Ransomware can leave your business with nothing if you don’t pay into the cybercriminals’ demands. Ransomware can even be deadly when it affects essential services. In Germany this last year, a ransomware attack held hospital data hostage and resulted in a patient’s death. Improving security measures and training every single employee is a must when it comes to prevention.

Cybercrime and the Pandemic

The pandemic has been a goldmine for cybercriminals. More people are online than ever before, and businesses and organizations alike have been scrambling to digitize processes remotely. This leads to plenty of weak spots and a huge population that is untrained in recognizing phishing spam and other cybercrime activity.