Before going into the types of cyber-attack, Let us properly understand what Cyber Attack or Hacking means;
What is the meaning of Cyber-Attack?
Hacking/ Cyber Attacks are invasions by cybercriminals or hackers to steal data and information and destroy or alter functionalities of computer systems.
Hackers mainly aim to steal sensitive information from you and use it against you.
They try to gain access to your computer systems to either steal or damage them by identifying weaknesses and vulnerabilities in your systems and exploiting them to accomplish their goals.
Why do Cyber-Attacks happen?
Hackers tend to steal information for personal use, Political use, or criminal purposes. They use this stolen information to take advantage of competitors.
They usually target financial data, Trades secrets/ recipes, business information, Login credentials, sensitive personal information, or even divert payments.
How do Cyber Attacks happen?
When you unknowingly click an infected ad, spam email, or even those silly popups on your screen.
Also, your information can get stolen when you use easy-to-guess passwords or install programs from an untrusted source.
Types of Cyber Attacks
Malware Attack:
Malware is malicious software often used to attack a system’s function ability. It disrupts the proper working state of a computer.
Examples of malware are:
Ransomware:
This malware attacks your system and shuts it down or locks it in a way whereby the owner cannot access their files until they pay a ransom to the hacker to decrypt and send the password, which is not always the case as the hacked files might never recover your files.
Note: If your system has been infected with ransomware, installing a new operating system does not correct the encrypted files.
SpyWare:
One of the new ways hackers can violate your privacy and steal sensitive information like credit card numbers, logins, etc. It invades your computer, collects your data, and sends it to external users. This kind of malware is installed automatically without the user’s knowledge.
This malware can infect your system by clicking on an infected ad or popup, visiting an infected website, downloading software from an unreliable source, or opening email attachments from unknown senders.
Denial of Service(DoS) or Distributed Denial of service(DDoS):
When this kind of attack happens, the computer system slows down or even hangs and thereby preventing it from responding to service requests and reducing the system’s ability to perform tasks. DDOS is usually a setup for another incoming attack.
Phishing:
Phishing is a method by which hackers will create email messages to entice individuals to open attachments or download a file that contains malware.
DNS traveling:
DNS traveling is a transactional protocol that exchanges or extracts application data silently.
Smishing( also called SMS phishing):
Smishing is another type of phishing via SMS text.
Password attack:
A password attack is when a hacker cracks your password with tools like HashCat, John the ripper, Cain, Abel, dictionary attacks, etc.
How to prevent/ defend yourself from hackers and cyber attacks
- Use firewalls
- Use antivirus software to prevent malware
- Update your browsers to increase security.
- Avoid clicking suspicious links and popups.
- Use strong passwords.
- Update your passwords regularly
- Always scrutinize your emails
- Do not have any password hint out in the open
- Install applications from trusted sources
- Always backup your data
Conclusion
Cyber Crimes pose a considerable risk to individuals, businesses, and governments.
Although not everyone is a victim of cyberattacks, we are all at risk. So there is a need to protect our information from hackers. We need to protect ourselves from identity theft and extortion attempts.
Our reputation depends on the safety of our data and personal information.
##Resources
Cisco Cyber Report
Top comments (2)
If we're talking about cyberattacks in 2022 I'm missing "supply chain attacks" attacks in this list.
6 out of evrey 7 product vulnerabilities come from transitive vulnerabilities: sonatype.com/state-of-the-software...
it would be looked into and fixed, thanks for your insight