In order to stay safe in the risky cyber environment of today, all businesses must position themselves ahead of cybercriminals. Finding your weaknesses, comprehending how your business might be compromised, and putting the best prevention and detection measures in place will help you achieve cyber resilience. But first, you need to be aware of the possible attack vectors that could harm your enterprise.
What is an attack vector in cybersecurity?
Attack vectors, also known as threat vectors, are the routes that online criminals take to compromise an IT infrastructure. An attack vector, or the steps an attacker takes to launch an attack, is essentially a method or route a malicious hacker uses to get to a target.
Due to the fact that they do require some planning and analysis, attack vectors are typically intentional threats rather than accidental ones.
These attack vectors may be used by a variety of groups, including rival companies, angry ex-employees, malicious hackers, cyber espionage organisations, and more. Regardless of who or what is involved, they may be trying to extort money from your employees, steal your technology, or otherwise disrupt your business. In any case, they will exert every effort to access your systems by successfully utilising attack vectors. best cyber security service provider.
How are attack vectors and attack surfaces related
Attack vectors are the techniques fraudsters employ to enter a system without authorization.
The attack surface is the whole set of attack vectors that an attacker could employ to gain access to or steal information from your network or endpoints.
Most Common Attack vectors in cybersecurity
The most frequent types of attack vectors that can endanger your organisation are briefly covered below.
1. Insider Threats
One of the most frequent attack channels is insider threat. However, not all insider threats are malicious, since inexperienced staff members can unintentionally reveal internal information. However, malicious employees working for a company may purposefully reveal sensitive information or install malware due to a variety of motivations, including monetary gain.
The most recent insider threat statistics show worrying trends that every organisation should take into account and address. For instance, insider threats have increased by 47% over the last two years, and insider attacks are occurring more frequently in 70% of organizations.
2. Phishing Emails
Social engineering employs a variety of strategies, including phishing. It entails deceitful individuals using manipulative techniques to coerce workers into opening malicious email attachments, clicking on dubious links, or disclosing their login information.
The most cunning variation of phishing is spear phishing, in which attackers carefully watch a very specific employee before subsequently targeting them. This problem is also a component of the growing danger posed by business email compromise (BEC), a highly technical technique that can completely destroy businesses of all sizes.
3. Supply chain attacks
Business partners can develop into important attack vectors in cybersecurity. Vendors have been to blame for some of the largest security mishaps and data breaches. Attackers frequently use supply chain attacks to target the clients of vendors. This is why big and small businesses alike, along with their business partners, must promote a culture where cybersecurity best practices are exchanged and reciprocal transparency is shown.
4. Weak or compromised login credentials
If the authentication credentials used by your employees are too flimsy or compromised, an attacker may be able to access your IT systems without authorization.
The most common type of authentication, usernames and passwords, are easily abused through phishing, data breaches, and malware that steals login credentials, giving attackers unrestricted access to your employees' accounts.
#5. Brute-force attacks
Another dangerous attack vector is the practice of attackers submitting several passwords in an effort to eventually guess them. According to research, the amount of brute-force attempts has rapidly grown since the new coronavirus outbreak. Since the majority of employees began working from home, we have seen a 5% increase in brute-force attacks.
6. Unpatched vulnerabilities
Your systems' unpatched vulnerabilities can be exploited, letting attackers get through. If systems had been patched in a timely manner, the most infamous ransomware attacks to date (like WannaCry and NotPetya) might not have occurred.
Cybercriminals continue to make a lot of money off of ransomware. It should come as no surprise that ransomware has evolved into a “business” model, known as ransomware as a service, given its enormous profits. This makes it simple to access, even for those with limited technical knowledge who are determined to take advantage of weaker users.
In addition, a variety of other types of malware, such as worms, trojan horses, rootkits, adware, spyware, file-less malware, bots, and many others, can help malicious hackers infiltrate your company.
Also, bear in mind that the list I just gave is limited to a few possible attack vectors that could harm your company.
7. Cross-Site Scripting
A sort of computer security flaw known as cross-site scripting (XSS) is frequently present in web applications. XSS gives attackers the ability to insert malicious code into webpages that other people are seeing. Any malicious code injected by the attacker is executed by the browser when a user views a webpage, potentially exposing sensitive data or executing unwanted code.
8. Man-in-the-middle Attacks
A cyberattack known as a “man-in-the-middle” occurs when an attacker enters a conversation between two victims in an effort to listen in or tamper with the communication. In order to make it seem as though the message originated from the original sender, the attacker intercepts messages being sent between the victims and modifies them before resending them to the other victim. Attacks of this kind can be used to steal sensitive data, including trade secrets, login credentials, and financial data. Malicious code can be injected into software or websites using man-in-the-middle attacks, which can then be used to infect the victims' computers.
9. DNS Poisoning
In a cyberattack known as DNS poisoning, also referred to as DNS spoofing, a hacker manipulates the Domain Name System (DNS) to direct a domain name to the incorrect IP address. Users may be redirected to a malicious website or server as a result, where they could become infected with malware or be phished for personal data.
10. Malicious Apps / Trojans
Numerous harmful programmes are available that can corrupt your system and steal your data. Some of these apps pass for genuine while others are blatantly phoney. Take a look at this list of more than 400 malicious apps that was provided by Meta. To lure users into downloading them, the apps were listed on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store under false names such as photo editors, games, VPN services, business apps, and other utilities.
How to protect your organization from threat vectors
With the right resources, protecting your company from various attack vectors won't be difficult. The main areas you should concentrate on to lessen the risk of threat vectors and avert potential future attacks are listed below.
#1. Educate your employees
We are ardent supporters of ongoing security education and think that your staff should always be required to attend cybersecurity awareness training courses. Employees should regularly brush up on their cybersecurity knowledge since, in today's digital world, prevention is the key to keeping your company secure. Cybersecurity training should be a lifelong process inside your business as long as cybercrime survives and is profitable.
Your staff must be trained to spot the telltale signs of phishing and BEC, to create passwords in accordance with your internal password policy and steer clear of the most frequent password blunders, to recognise the various kinds of malware, and to report cybersecurity incidents and potential threats. To assist them in recognising the telltale signs of phishing and avoiding falling victim to these attacks, you can also try running phishing simulations.
#2. Apply the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP)
The cornerstone of PoLP is limiting user rights to the lowest level that still enables them to complete their tasks successfully. This procedure closes a number of security gaps within your company, while also giving you fine-grained control over the actions taken and removing the threat of insider threats.
#3. Use a mix of cybersecurity tools for layered protection
Even the most informed workers may occasionally unintentionally click on harmful websites or open malicious email attachments. Additionally, there are times when cybercriminals succeed in duping your employees into sending a significant quantity of money to their accounts by posing as their bosses or other authoritative figures. Because of this, having the appropriate cybersecurity tools in place can assist you in preventing human error and covering more attack vectors.
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