Ultimate Guide to Cyber Attack: Types & Tips to Prevent Them

1. Phishing Attack

One of the most significant cybersecurity attacks, a Phishing attack is a type of social engineering attack wherein the attacker presents himself as a trusted contact and sends the victim fake emails.

The unaware  victim opens the mail and clicks on the malicious link. Once the user clicks on the send link, the attackers gain access to confidential information and account credentials. 

Following are the quick ways to prevent these phishing attacks – 

• Always scrutinize your received mail ‘
• Take advantage of an anti-phishing toolbar
• Keep your password updated. 

2. Malware

Malware is an application that can carry out several dangerous functions in cybersecurity. Malware strains are made to spy on users to gather credentials or other major information to create persistent access to a network. Some malware is created to disrupt normal operations. Malware can sometimes be created specifically to extort the victim. Ransomware is a well-known type of malware that was created to encrypt the victim's files and demand payment in exchange for the decryption key. Preventing malware is a challenging task that necessitates a multifaceted strategy. 

Following are the key strategies to prevent malware –

• Ensure that you have installed the most up-to-date anti-malware and spam protection software. Ensure that everyone on your team is trained to discover phishing emails and websites. 
• Have a robust password policy and implement multifactor authentication.
• Update and patch all of your software. Use the Administrator accounts under dire circumstances only
• Control system and data access carefully.

3. SQL Injection Attack

When a user modifies a typical SQL query on a database-driven website with wrong intentions, it results in a Structured Query Language (SQL) injection attack. It is spread by inserting malicious code into a vulnerable website search box and forcing the server to divulge essential data.

After this cyber security network attack, the hacker gets access to read, edit, and remove databases' tables and administrative rights.

Following are the ways to prevent SQL injection attacks – 

• Do proper validation of the user-supplied data. 
• Use an  Intrusion detection system as they design it to identify unauthorized access to a network 

4. A Denial-of-Service Attack

A Denial-of-Service Attack poses a severe risk to businesses. Attackers target systems, servers, or networks, in this case, and bombard them with traffic to deplete their bandwidth and resources.

When this occurs, the servers get overburdened with serving incoming requests, which causes the website it hosts to either go down or slow down. The valid service requests go unattended as a result. When attackers employ numerous hacked systems to initiate this attack, it is sometimes referred to as a DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) attack.

Following are the ways to prevent DDoS attacks – 

• Do a traffic analysis to find malicious traffic 
• Get a proper understanding of the warning signs like network slowdown, intermittent site shutdowns, etc. 
• Create a response plan, get a checklist and ensure your team can handle a DDoS attack 

6. Insider Threat

An insider threat, as the name implies, involves an insider instead of a third party. The attacker  can be someone who works for the company and is well-versed in its operations. The potential damage from insider threats is enormous.  Small organizations are particularly vulnerable to insider threats because their employees hold access to sensitive data. There can be numerous reasons for this attack, including avarice, malice, and even negligence. Insider threats are tricky because they are difficult to predict.

These are some of the most effective ways to prevent this cyber attack – 

• Create a strong culture of security awareness within your organizations
• Depending on their employment functions, companies must restrict the IT resources employees can access.
• Organizations should educate the team on how to recognize insider threats. It will help them to recognize when a hacker attempts to misuse data from the firm.

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5. Cryptojacking

Cryptojacking is one of the cyber attacks under which cybercriminals steal a user's computer or other device and use it to mine cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Although cryptojacking is not as popular as other cybersecurity attacks, it shouldn't be discounted. When it comes to this kind of assault, organizations don't have great visibility, thus, a hacker can use priceless network resources to mine a cryptocurrency without the organization being aware of it. 

Following are a few techniques to prevent cryptojacking – 

• Monitor the CPU consumption of all network devices, including any cloud-based infrastructure you use
• Inform your team to stay alert for any performance difficulties or suspicious communications that might be infected with Cryptojacking viruses

7. Password Attack

Password Attack, as the name suggests, is one type of network attack in which the attacker tries to “crack” a user's password. It is possible to find a user's password by using different methods, albeit it is outside the scope of this article to explain each process in detail. Besides, hackers try to attempt by using phishing techniques to access a user's password.

Following are a few ways to prevent these cyber attacks –

•  Make your passwords strong by using alphanumeric and special characters
• Do not use the same password across several accounts or websites. 
• Keep updating your passwords to reduce the risk of a password attack.
• Keep any password suggestions hidden from view.

8. Man-in-the-middle Attacks

One of the unique types of cyber attacks, the man-in-the-middle (MITM) assault, occurs when hackers interject themselves into a two-party transaction. According to Cisco, they can filter and take data after disrupting the traffic. These attacks are more frequent while using public Wi-Fi networks because they are so simple to exploit. Attackers place themselves in the way of the visitor and the network, then use malware to set up malicious software and access data. For example, hackers interject themselves into your dialogue and pose as the other party you believe you are speaking to. 

Some of the effective ways to tackle these kinds of cybersecurity attacks are mentioned below– 

• Your first line of security should be a secure internet connection
• Focus on using a VPN (virtual private network) when connecting online
• There should be endpoint security, and multi-factor authentication 

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9. DNS Tunnelling

Hackers use DNS tunneling, one of the types of network attacks, to get around more established security measures like firewalls and access systems and networks. Hackers code malicious programs with DNS requests and responses. Once inside, the malware latches onto the target server and grants the attackers remote access. These kinds of cybersecurity attacks are harmful mainly because they sometimes go unreported for days, weeks, or months. Cybercriminals can install malware, modify code, add new access points, and steal critical data during that period. 

These are the ways to prevent DNS Tunneling attacks – 

• Deploy an effective DNS filtering system
• Train your team to recognize atypical DNS traffic patterns.
• Invest in a proper DNS-specific firewall

10. Cross-site Scripting Attacks

Under cross-site scripting (XSS) cyber-attacks, hackers access a website or application without any authority. They try to take advantage of weak websites and force malicious JavaScript installations on visitors. After the building, the hacker can access your account and do whatever action when the code is executed in your browser. Web pages, forums, and message boards are examples of vulnerable sites to XSS. These web pages depend on user input that has not been checked for harmful code. However, even more, prominent locations are vulnerable. You can explore more about Cyber Security through insightful articles and training courses at JanBask Training!

Here are some effective techniques of preventing this cybersecurity network attack – 

• Make sure your applications validate all the input data
• Only listed data should be allowed in the system
• Also, make sure that all variable output in a page is encoded before it is returned to the user

11. Botnet Attack

This kind of attack generally targets  large-scale corporations and associations because of its extensive information access. Under it, the attackers can take over many devices and bargain them into serving their cunning purposes. Owners of botnets can command a few thousand PCs to perform malicious actions by approaching them all at once. Cybercriminals initially gain access to these devices by using specialized Trojan infections to compromise the security frameworks of the PCs. They order and control software to enable them to perform malicious actions with a broad audience. These drills can be mechanized to enable as many synchronized attacks as possible.

Here are some ways to prevent this cyber attack – 

• Control access to machines and systems
• Run regular antivirus scans
• Deploy multi-factor authentication

12. Spear-phishing Attacks

A specific kind of targeted phishing attack is spear phishing. The attacker spends time learning about their chosen victims before crafting communications that are likely to be of personal interest to them. Due to the manner, in which the attacker focuses on a single target, these attacks are fittingly referred to as "spear" phishing. Because the message will appear authentic, it may be challenging to recognize a spear-phishing attempt.

A spear-phishing assault frequently uses email spoofing, in which the "From" line of the email is altered to make it appear as though a different sender is sending it. This might be a friend, business partner, or someone the target trusts from their social network.

Effective ways to prevent phishing attacks --

• Carefully check out the details in all fields of an email 
• Make sure not to click on any link whose destination cannot be verified as legitimate.

13. URL Interpretation

By manipulating and fabricating specific URL addresses, attackers can exploit URL interpretation to access the target's personal and professional data. The term "URL poisoning" is another name for this type of attack. The term "URL interpretation" refers to the attacker knowing the correct order in which to enter the URL components for a web page. The attacker then "interprets" this syntax, utilizing it to determine how to get access to restricted locations.

A hacker may guess URLs they can use to get administrator access to a website or access the site's back end to enter a user's account to carry out a URL interpretation attack. 

These are a few ways to prevent this cyber attack- 

• Use secure authentication methods for any sensitive areas of your site
• Ensure multi-factor authentication (MFA) or secure passwords