Cybercrime and cybersecurity are locked in a perpetual struggle. Developments in one tend to lead to innovation in the other and vice versa. Here are some of the biggest risks and trends in cybersecurity today.
Virtual Private Networks
Virtual Private Networks have been popular in business for some time now, but more and more individual consumers have recently decided to get Surfshark or other consumer available systems in recent years.
Virtual Private Networks reroute data from end user hardware to remote servers around the world. This obscures the IP address of the end user, allowing them to avoid snooping from government agencies, malicious hackers and anybody else that might want to keep a close eye on them. VPNs also encrypt data while it is in transit, which helps to prevent ‘man in the middle’ type interception attacks that have previously devastated companies and individuals that need to keep data private.
Ransomware
Ransomware is the scourge of businesses and individuals that keep sensitive data within their systems. Sophisticated ransomware attacks have targeted healthcare, oil and military networks in recent years, and many have been linked to agencies working for adversarial governments. Ransomware encrypts user data and requests a payment of cryptocurrency in exchange for a decryption key.
Multi-Factor Authentication
Gone are the days when important IT systems could be protected with a single password screen. Hackers can use all sorts of methods for getting past passwords. Social engineering efforts and brute force attacks can quite easily crack a password. Many organizations are turning to multi-factor authentication in an effort to keep their information secure.
Multi-factor authentication usually involves a password stage and one other element. This is usually some kind of biometric authentication. Biometric authentication makes use of the unique anatomical features possessed by every human being. Facial recognition, fingerprint scanning, and iris scanning are all commonly used. Multi-factor authentication can also involve hardware confirmation elements. Organization members need to receive a code on their mobile phone or company computer in order to pass a hardware security stage. While multi-factor authentication is not foolproof, it does add a much needed extra layer of security to IT systems.
Social Engineering Attacks
As cybersecurity technology becomes more advanced and harder to crack using brute force, cybercriminals have focused their attention on the weakest link: human beings. According to a recent report, 99 percent of hacking attacks begin with social engineering. Social engineering is a term used to describe the manipulation of human beings into giving away confidential IT information or personal details. Hackers using social engineering techniques can gather information on executives within an organization before impersonating them in order to harvest confidential information from an employee. One of the most famous examples of successful social engineering happened in 2016, when hackers linked to the Russian state sent phishing emails to Democrat party officials claiming to be from researchers that had important statistical information. The officials unwittingly opened these emails hoping for useful documents and started a leak in progress that contributed towards their famous election loss.