Protecting your business from cyber attacks requires an understanding of attack vectors. Research shows that around 20 percent of all small businesses will become the target of a cyber attack. Some of them, of course, are able to recover without any lasting damage. Others, however, are forced to shut down and cease their operations. By familiarizing yourself with common attack vectors, you can protect your business from cyber attacks.
Many cyber attacks involve the use of email. Email, in fact, is one of the most common attack vectors. If you use email for work-related purposes, you should take precautions to ensure that it doesn’t result in a cyber attack on your business. Emails can be used for phishing schemes, or they can be used to deploy malware.
Weak Passwords
Weak passwords is a common attack vector. According to a study conducted by Avast, 83% of Americans use weak passwords. Weak passwords are characterized by their simple format. They are typically short, consisting of just one or a few basic words. While this format makes them easy to remember, weak passwords are also for hackers to crack. A hacker can crack a weak password by using a brute-force attack.
Lack of Encryption
Failure to use encryption can place your business at risk for a cyber attack. Encryption offers a strong layer of protection against data breaches. Even if a hacker penetrates your business’s network or devices, you can rest assured knowing that your data is safe if it’s encrypted. Encrypted data is scrambled with a cryptographic algorithm, which renders it unreadable. Lack of encryption, on the other hand, means hackers can read your data after accessing it.
MITM
Man-in-the-middle (MITM) is a potential attack vector. MITM refers to any attack in which a hacker eavesdrop on or intercepts the connection between the victim and another user to which the victim is connected. If you’re visiting a website on your business’s computer, for instance, a hacker may intercept your connection. This will allow the hacker to capture all of the data that you send to the website as well as all of the data that the site sends to you.
Zero-Day Vulnerabilities
Your business could become the victim of a cyber attack due to a zero-day vulnerability. Zero-day vulnerabilities are potential attack vectors. They consist of exploitable weaknesses in software that haven’t been discovered or otherwise fixed by the developer. Any type of vulnerability is a concern. Zero-day vulnerabilities, though, are particularly troublesome because they haven’t been discovered yet.
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