Cyber attacks basically implies to malicious and deliberate attempts by an individual entity or a company to breach the information system of another individual or organization, with the aim of seeking a certain type of benefit from disrupting the victim’s network. Michael Coppola says that in the modern digitized environment, cyber attacks can cause huge problems, including the failure of military equipment and breaches of national security secrets. They can even result in the theft of valuable, sensitive data like medical records or cause electrical blackouts. These attacks have the capability to disrupt the life of people to a great extent.
With every passing day, cyber security threats and their impact are becoming all the more severe. Technology has become an almost indispensable aspect of the life of people today. However, with the increase in the usage of digital devices, the risks of cyber attacks also increase. Hence, Michael Coppola advises all people to invest in cutting-edge and advanced cyber security solutions that can help them to properly protect their data. Typically, hackers attack a system with the aim of availing a certain financial gain. By having proper cyber security solutions in place, people can adequately protect both their sensitive data and finances.
However, in order to keep their system protected from various types of cyber threats, one needs to have a basic understanding of what they actually are. Michael Coppola provides a brief overview of certain common types of cyber threats in the following points:
- Malware: Software that performs a malicious task on a target device or network is referred to as malware. This can include ransomware, spyware and viruses. Malware breaches a network through a certain vulnerability, ideally when a user clicks a dangerous link or email attachment that results in the installation of a risky software. Once inside the system, malware can covertly obtain information by transmitting data from the hard drive or block access to key components of the network.
- Phishing: An email-borne attack that involves tricking the recipient into disclosing certain confidential information or downloading malware by clicking on a hyperlink in the message is known as phishing. The key goal of this type of a cyber attack tends to be to stead sensitive data like credit card and login information.
- Spear phishing: This is a more advanced and sophisticated form of phishing. With this type of a cyber attack, the attacker learns about the victim by impersonating someone they know or trust.
- Man-in-the-middle attack: In this, an attacker tends to establish a position between the sender and recipient of electronic messages and subsequently intercepts them. Unsecured public Wi-Fi is a common point of entry for such an attack, where the user passes all information to the hacker unknowingly.
- Denial-of-service attack: Here the hacker takes over several devices and uses them to invoke a targeted attack.
With the advancement of cyber attacks, security solutions providing protection against them has also advanced considerably. Hence, by investing in the right solutions, people can surely keep their systems secure.
