The consequences of a successful cyber attack on your company can be devastating. Not only can this leave you bankrupt for a long time, but it can also open you up to costly lawsuits. And if your customers don’t feel like their data is safe, it can cause massive damage to your sales revenue.
This may seem dramatic, but the numbers show the need for concern. Three out of four organizations will be at risk of a cyber attack in the following year, according to Statista’s 2023 Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Survey. A year earlier, only 34 per cent were concerned about an attack.
Below, we define a cyber attack and the five most likely ways hackers can enter your system. We highlight five of the most devastating impacts cybercrime has on businesses and then offer five ways to protect your business.
What is a cyber attack?
A cyber attack is any action taken to gain unauthorized access to a computer, information system or IT network to damage, steal or disclose personal or corporate data. An attack could take the form of someone trying to increase access to your LinkedIn account, or it could be much larger, like the sophisticated Caesar’s Entertainment attack that saw hackers pay $15 million to prevent the publication of a customer database.
Any company or individual employee is weak to a cyber attack anytime through a mobile device, laptop or desktop computer. It may come via email or result from a concerted effort targeting corporate servers. But there are several effective ways to protect yourself and your business.
The five most common types of cyber attacks
Cybercriminals can attack your corporate in many ways, but these five methods are the most common.
Malware
Malicious software (malware) can arise from anywhere and take any form. These malicious applications can infiltrate an IT system simply by opening an email attachment or connecting an EXE file from a suspicious site. And once malware gets into your system, stopping it won’t be easy.
Malware originates in many forms, including spyware, ransomware, keyloggers, and viruses. For example, ransomware blocks access to computer systems and data, only returning it after paying a certain amount. This happened to the information technology group CDW, which was the victim of an attack. Their hackers demanded a payment of $80 million. The company offered them $1.1 million, but the offer was rejected, so the attackers began leaking CSW data.
Phishing
A phishing attack is a message calculated to trick someone into see-through personally identifiable information (PII) that will provide access to your accounts. Phishing attacks used to be easy to spot—like those sent from a foreign prince who wants to give you lots of dollars. This is a phishing scam to get your bank account information.
This type of cyberattack has become more refined in recent years, originating from email servers that spoof official corporate email addresses, applications on hijacked web pages, or even phone calls from crooks posing as government officials. These attacks focus primarily on fear or greed, so if something seems too good to be true, it should be treated cautiously.
DDoS attack
A distributed denial of deal (DDoS) attack allows cybercriminals to overwhelm a network with unwanted traffic that disrupts and disrupts running services. It’s like a crowd blocking your favourite store, preventing anyone from entering and the company’s customers from entering. These types of targeted attacks typically target more prominent organizations, including banks and other financial gateways, allowing hackers to disrupt the operations of these companies.
SQL injection
Injecting Structured Query Language (SQL) allows a hacker to exploit vulnerable web forms by using malicious commands to take data, delete or modify records, or even take over an entire website—all through a relatively simple process. An SQL deed is often considered one of the most preventable breaches because it usually occurs due to broken code in a database or website. Through trial and error, a sophisticated cybercriminal can access client information such as credit card numbers, home addresses, and email addresses.
Zero-day exploit
One of the most excellent and effective types of cyber attacks is a zero-day exploit, a newly exposed bug or vulnerability that can attack, bypass, or take over a system. Once a zero-day exploit is found, the clock starts ticking. Worst of all, some zero-day feats may not be detected by corporate IT departments for weeks or months after the initial breach.
The 5 Most Devastating Consequences of a Cyber Attack
Cyberattacks can have a wide range of negative impacts on your business.
Financial losses
Some cyberattacks aim to steal corporate funds, while others cause the company to lose money as a side effect. According to IBM, the regular cost of a data breach caused by a cyber attack is approximately $4.45 million.
A simple data breach can quickly become devastating financial losses for any business. The costs associated with having your information technology (IT) managers update security protocols for your entire corporate network and the physical security of individual workstations can add up quickly.
Damaged reputation
Everyone said, “I never thought this would happen to me.” But this is precisely what hackers expect – no one expects a cyber attack. This is why they are so effective.
After an attack, customer trust becomes a real issue; potential clients and customers can check for leaks and security holes that could lead to loss of business.
Large-scale business disruption
Once a cybercriminal has successfully breached a corporate network, they can harm your business in various ways. One cyberattack may focus solely on siphoning off funds, while another may attempt to disrupt the supply chain. Other attacks, such as a DDoS attack, can be designed to overload your system, causing every service or application you offer to crash. Recovering from a cyberattack can take days or even weeks and cost millions.
Legal obligations
Following any significant data breach, an organization must prove its compliance with state, federal, or regulatory standards for its specific industry. Companies that keep careful records and conduct regular audits must have documentation that all necessary steps have been completed. Additional legal fees may be incurred for companies that do not maintain such meticulous records. Even worse. Even if a business follows all the rules and regulations, customers and partners can still sue if a data breach involves certain information.
Data loss
The most devastating consequence of a cyber attack is losing confidential company data. In addition to personal and confidential customer data, a well-executed attack can expose other information, such as patents, trade secrets and source code for critical products. When cybercriminals have this kind of information about a company, they have enormous power.
Armed with an application’s source code. Cybercriminals have everything they need to hack the software or create vulnerabilities to exploit unsuspecting users. Users could potentially expose other weaknesses in their network that a cybercriminal could exploit, inadvertently allowing the cyberattack to increase its damage. This is when a business becomes liable, potentially leading to financial loss, damaged reputation and numerous legal consequences.
Why do cyber attacks happen?
Cyberattacks occur for various reasons and are carried out by many actors. Below, we will look at why attacks occur, what they aim at, and who is behind them.
Why?
The three main reasons why cyber attacks occur are:
1. Criminal
Cybercriminals may be motivated by:
- Direct theft (for example, stealing money from bank accounts)
- Identity theft (such as selling personal and financial information on the black market to scammers)
- Extortion (such as using ransomware or DDoS spells to force victims to pay to regain access to their schemes or data)
- Corporate espionage (for example, hacking into a company’s R&D department to obtain information about a competitor’s activities)
2. Political
Countries can use cyber attacks to:
- Destabilize another state (for example, by attacking its financial markets, energy grids, and other systems)
- Gain knowledge (for example, to influence political outcomes or reveal secret communications and strategies)
- Compromise (for example, obtaining damaging information about a person or group to defame or extortion them)
Other situations in which radical cyberattacks occur include:
- Public exposure (for instance, hacktivists publish confidential information to expose human rights abuses and corruption)
- Damage to reputation (for example. Targeting a political party or other organization to disclose and publish damaging information to undermine public trust)
- Raising public awareness (for example, hacking government websites, media outlets, corporations, and others to obtain information to support an individual’s or organization’s point of view).
3. Others
Three other leading causes of individual cyberattacks include:
- Retaliation (for example, when employees steal data to sell to competitors)
- Competition (for example, overcoming the challenge of breaking into hard-to-reach systems before other hackers)
- Penetration testing (for example, when companies use contractors to try to hack into their systems to identify vulnerabilities)
What?
The main goals of a cyber attack are:
- Financial assets: This could include the theft of money or other economic instruments from bank accounts, digital wallets and online financial facilities.
- Financial data. Hackers often steal credit card information, lending details, and other financial data, quickly selling it on the black market.
- Personal information: This can include social sanctuary numbers, phone numbers, addresses and more, which can be use to create fake credit profiles to apply for loans.
- Sensitive data may include medical records, private communications, and legal documents that can be used to blackmail a person or company. Medical records may be sold for marketing purposes.
- Corporate Information: This is intellectual property such as trade secrets, business strategies, ongoing research and growth plans, proprietary technologies and future business strategy.
- This is when communication networks, transport systems and influence grids are criticized.
WHO?
Culprits of cybercrime can be external or internal. The main external threats are:
- Organized crime. Sophisticated criminal groups will target individuals, companies and networks for financial gain.
- State Actors: Nation-states will attack each other’s infrastructure, elections, etc., for political reasons.
- Novice Hackers: Some find hacking challenging and may attack individual systems to improve their skills.
- Hacktivists: Hacktivists are driven by ideological and political goals to carry out attacks but are not usually sponsored by individual states.
The main insider threats include:
- Employees, especially disgruntled current or past employees who still have access to company systems, can steal data or damage your network.
- Contractors: While rare, an independent contractor with a grievance against their client may be persuaded to hack into their IT system and access their data without permission.
- Business partners. When there is disagreement between shareholders, an individual may attempt to gain access to information available to other shareholders beyond what is permitt by any partnership arrangement. They may do this to gain a competitive advantage in exit negotiations.
- Clients: In the event of a commercial dispute or an attempt to gain an advantage in negotiations, a client may attempt to gain access to a supplier’s IT system to obtain commercially sensitive information.
As you can see, modern businesses face many cybersecurity challenges. However, unless you are an international company or a significant supplier to multinational companies or governments, you are unlikely to be target by rogue states and hacktivists.
However, don’t think that as the owner of a small and medium-sized business, your business and its data will not interest cyber attackers. Security companies say 61 per cent of US and UK businesses have suffered a successful cyber attack in the past year.
What are examples of known cyber attacks?
Recent examples of successful cyber attacks include:
- UK digital security company DarkBeam suffered a data breach affecting over 3.8 billion records.
- Real Estate Wealth Network’s online education platform contains more than 1.5 billion personal real estate title records, including those of celebrities and politicians.
- A hacker leaked the email addresses of more than 220 million users from X, formerly known as Twitter.
- British newspaper The Guardian suffered a ransomware attack that affected its operations for several months.
- Casino chain Caesars Entertainment paid hackers $15 million to stop them from publishing a database of loyal customers they stole.
- The UK was force to close. Logistics company KNP Logistics, after a ransomware attack, resulted in 700 employees losing their jobs.
How to protect your business from cyber-attacks?
1. Implement strong password security practices.
Believe it or not, people still use weak passwords for many books. According to Safety.org, the most common password now is “123456.” A solid password is the first line of defence against cyber attacks.
Some guidelines for creating passwords include using at least one number and one unique character. Such as a hashtag or question mark. Other recommended methods are to use a unique password for each of your accounts, change those passwords regularly, and use a password manager.
2. Always use the latest software.
Cybercriminals use exploits such as zero-day attacks through old versions of applications, and all types are vulnerable – from email programs to media players and instant messengers. Many app updates include security improvements to fix known topics and prevent bugs from being exploite in future cyberattacks. If you are using the latest versions of your software packages and applications, they are probably safe.
3. Use a virtual private network.
When your business is equipped with the best virtual private network (VPN). You have a direct link to your network over the Internet that keeps your information hidden from prying eyes.
A VPN filters your traffic through different attendants to hide your activity or place from cybercriminals and smooth your Internet Service Provider (ISP). While even the best VPN has some drawbacks. Such as slower network speeds and IP blocklisting, the benefits. Such as extra security, anonymity, and access to geo-restricted content, are more than they offer.
4. Use a reputable cybersecurity insurance service.
Cybersecurity insurance can help any business mend from the effects of a successful cyberattack, whether through financial assistance. Logistics support or additional IT resources. Once a breach occurs and an employee’s or customer’s personal information is expose. A cybersecurity insurance policy will be activate to help notify the necessary parties of the incident while helping to minimize the company’s liability.
Cybersecurity insurance policies can shelter fraud and theft. As well as forensic testing needed to identify network vulnerabilities and prevent future incidents. These kinds of policies can also help recover stolen funds and assist with data loss and recovery.
5. Back up and encrypt your data regularly.
Have you ever forgotten to save a document before closing it? It’s scary to lose all your hard work because of a moment of thoughtlessness. Now imagine that you saved all your data, but it was all deleted by an angry hacker who wants to do some damage. Losing all that work to a targeted attack is even worse. The good news is that this can be ideally avoid by using a cloud-based document-running system.
By regularly backing up your data to a coded location. You not only increase the security of your company documents but also protect them from permanent deletion. Keeping multiple copies of your documents on a secure server or external drive will prevent hackers from finding them in the first place.
