By Murali Urs, Country Manager(India), Barracuda Networks
The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has ushered a complete digital shift in business institutions around the world. Companies have globally transitioned towards establishing work from home policies for employees in the brave new normal. In a recent study conducted by Barracuda Networks, nearly two-thirds (62%) said they wouldn’t have implemented remote or home working for another five years had it not been for the crisis. Meanwhile as per study by Barracuda Networks82% said they plan to continue supporting remote working even after the pandemic recedes. Such a massive transformation in the way businesses operate has also multiplied the risk of cybercriminals breaching security defenses. Cloud Systems and virtual databases are always under threat of being raided by malicious actors. A vast surfeit of attack vectors and even Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) are constantly aiming to invade and manipulate business data which results in losses worth billions. The global economy was set back by a whopping $ 1 trillion due to the meteoric rise in cyber-crimes in the attack-conducive post-lockdown normal. This implies a tremendous need for organizations to fortify their cybersecurity defenses with standardized latest best practices.
Amidst the remarkable technological advancement, threat vectors and cyberattacks have also become increasingly resourceful and sophisticated. Companies must adopt state-of-the-art cyber security solutions to effectively neutralize the ever-expanding cesspool of cyberthreats. At the same time, cyber miscreants are deploying cutting-edge offensive programs and assault campaigns that can render systems incapacitated in a matter of time. Maintaining the highest security standards is imperative for safeguarding critical datafiles and valuable assets from a complex and evolutionary threat matrix. From complex e-mail based attacks that can stealthily bypass fortifications, to DDOS type attacks, to drive by attacks and SQL injections, the threat landscape is a rapidly burgeoning one, on account of new-age technologies. Companies must shield themselves and step toe to toe with their nefarious cyber adversaries. This means empowering their employees and core practices with the Best cybersecurity practices and counter threat solution stacks.
Here are some of the top threats that are most dangerous to a business’s information security:
URL Phishing
Common Phishing attacks involve the use of emails to extract sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, or financial data for illegal purposes. URL Phishing is a specialized form of attack in which skillful cybercrooks optimize emails to deceive their victims into divulging personal credentials on a bogus phishing website masqueraded as a real one. It has been estimated that around 32% of all attacks in 2020 were phishing strikes and an average cost of a data breach was evaluated at $3.86 Million. A latest report by Barracuda Networks, titled Spear Phishing: Top Threats and Trends Vol. 5 – Best practices to defend against evolving attacks identified that 71% of spear-phishing attacks included malicious URLs. The CISO’s and security architects of companies must utilize gateways to shield business networks from mass URL phishing strikes. Gateways or network nodes optimize URL filtering and URL rewriting technologies to prevent entry to hostile website links disseminated through emails. API based inbox defense further supplements gateway protection by blocking malicious impersonators and allowing access only to a company’s actual URLs.
Spear Phishing
Spear phishing is a more advanced and personalized phishing attack in which rogue agents develop scrupulously crafted messages to assume a real personality, website or enterprise. Their objective is to breach company mails for critical data such as login information or financial figures which are then used for orchestrating scams, stealing identities, pilfering accounts, etc. These days advanced cyber masterminds also benefit from the use of social-engineering strategies to increase infiltration rate. Spear phishing attacks are highly damaging in nature and organizations must upgrade over traditional email security gateways and decree dedicated anti-spear phishing solutions for effective threat-counter. Barracuda Networks finds 13% of all spear-phishing attacks come from internally compromised accounts. Best practices to neutralize spear phishing attacks features an API-based inbox defense that uses an identity graph to isolate ambiguous communication patterns which helps in forecasting and shielding from attacks.
Malware
Cybermiscreants also make use of emails to dispatch files containing malicious softwares or malware. There is an expansive horde of malwares that constantly endanger business security such as computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, ransomware, spyware, adware, rogue software, scareware, viper, etc. Formally categorized into simple Volumetric malware or viruses and advanced zero-day malware. Unlike the former, zero day malwares are able to bypass standard security signatures and simple heuristics. As 94% of email attacks are conducted via email pathways, it is essential to leverage new-age anti-malware solutions. The security team at every organization should implement gateway level malware protection to scan potential email threats before they reach the official inbox. Zero day malware threats necessitate the use of advanced techniques such as Sandboxing which involves analyzing rogue files in an isolated test field before it accesses the storage mail.
Data Exfiltration
Data Exfiltration or data extrusion is the unwarranted transfer of company data or finances from official machines. Data leaks aim to acquire illegitimate access to a network or machine to find and copy the targeted dataset. While usually caused due to human negligence, an average global cost of a data theft in 2019 was about $3.92 million. These data leakages can unleash havoc on company health and reputation. These can be prevented through Data Loss Prevention solutions which are a blend of techniques and best practices to ensure that employees do not transmit confidential or sensitive data outside company perimeter. A cutting-edge DLP system scans all outgoing email to locate pre-fixed patterns that helps encrypting all kinds of critical data like credit card credentials, social security numbers, medical and biological data, etc.
The cybersecurity threat matrix is multiplying as we speak. Only by optimizing the most in-depth and agile best practices can enterprises hope to shield themselves from an impending attack or a data breach. It is also important to constantly train and up-skill all employee personal using the latest experiential simulations and real-time corporate threat replication modules to help them evade and control threats at an everyday basis.
