Importance of Cybersecurity | Future of Cybersecurity | Carrier in Cybersecurity

Introduction of CyberSecutity

Why and what is cybersecurity?

We live in a digital era that understands that our private information is more wonder able than ever before. What I'm trying to say here is we all live in a world that is networked together from internet banking to government infrastructure, where data is stored on computers and other devices.

A portion of this data can be sensitive information for which any unauthorized access could have negative consequences. 

So why do we need cybersecurity? 

I'm sure by now you guys have a wild guess why we need cybersecurity. Well with lots of online activities several attacks are on the rise and the cyber attack is now an international concern. 

Organizations transmit sensitive data across the network to another device while doing their business activities and cybersecurity ensures protecting that information and the system that is being used to process or store it.

So what is cybersecurity?

Well, cybersecurity is a set of principles and practices designed to protect our computer resources and online information against threats. 

What I'm trying to say here is due to our heavy dependency on computer systems in modern industry that store and transmit an abundant amount of confidential and essential information, cybersecurity has become a critical part of every organization's digital function. So now that we know why and what is cybersecurity.

Types of Cyber Attackers

As I mentioned earlier we live in an era where we are totally dependent on computers and the internet for our day-to-day activities. What basically happens in cyber attack is the exploitation of computer systems and network and we can broadly classify these types of attacks into two categories that are - 

• Web-based attacks

• system-based attacks 

Web-based attacks - These are the attacks that occur on a website or application. 

Some of the important web-based attacks are injection attacks. 

In an injection attack, some data will be injected into a web application to manipulate the back-end security and fetch the required information. 

The example for this is SQL injection code injection, log injection, and XML injection, and many more.

Some of the important Web-Based Attacks

1. Session hijacking - It's the attack on user session over a protected network, you see web applications create cookies to store the state and users session. By steering the cookies an attacker can have access to all the user data. 

   2. Phishing - Phishing is a type of attack which attempts to steal sensitive information like user login credentials, credit card numbers, and anything else. It occurs when an attacker is masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic community network.

   3. Brute force - It is a type of attack which uses a trial and error method. This attack generates a large number of guesses and validates them to obtain actual data like user id, passwords, and anything else. This attack may be used by criminals to crack encrypted data or by security analysts to test an organization's network security.

System-based attacks - These are the attacks that are intended to compromise a computer or computer network. Some of the important system-based attacks are like viruses. A virus is a type of malicious software program that spreads throughout the computer files, without the knowledge of a user. 

Wondering how it works well it's a self-replicating malicious computer program by making copies of itself into another computer program when it's executed.

Some of the important Web-Based Attacks

1. Worms - It is a type of malware whose primary function is to replicate itself to spread throughout the computer, in general, it works the same as a computer virus but worms often generate email attachments that appear to be trusted senders.

    2. Trojan horse - It is a malicious program that causes unexpected changes to computer settings or unusual activity even when the computer should be idle. So what happens here is it appears to be a normal application but when opened or executed some malicious code will run in the background without the consent of the user.

    3. Backdoors - Backdoor is a method that bypasses the normal authentication process. A developer may create a backdoor so that an application or operating system can be accessed for troubleshooting or other purposes.

Modern-day cyber-attacks(cyber threats)

The first step to deal with a new array of these threats is to know your enemy, that is to know the different types of cyberattacks and malware. Understanding how they work and how we can protect ourselves and our business and our clients.

Let's review some of the most common attacks that have thrived last year and are expected to grow in the future. 

Ransomware example for this is "wannacry" - Ransomware is a type of malware that prevents or limits users from accessing their system either by locking the system screen or by locking the user's file until a ransom is paid.

Modern ransomware families are collectively categorized as crypto ransom they encrypt certain files into an infected system and force users to pay the ransom online to get the decryption key. 

Ransomware can be downloaded when unsuspecting users visit malicious or compromised websites.

Ransomware can also arrive as a payload either dropped or downloaded by other malware. Some ransomware is known to be delivered as attachments with spam, email, download from malicious pages, or dropped by experts into a vulnerable system. 

The rise of bitcoin contributes greatly to the increase in popularity of ransomware among hackers.

Viper the example for this is "NotPitya" -  This type of malware might walk like ransomware and quack like ransomware but is a wiper the intention of this malware is to wipe out all your data.

In contrast to ransomware that is based on the financial motive of cybercrime, the viper is focused on causing damage and chaos among its victim. 

It can be caused by a government-led group or terror organization as a part of cyber warfare or by ruthless competitors who are willing to go all means including paying hackers to attack their rivals.

Spyware example for this is "keylogger" - Spyware is malware that is designed to correct information and monitor the activity of computer that they are installed on.

Spyware can collect any information that can benefit the attacker such as passwords, credit card details, documents, commercial secrets, browsing history, and many more.

It can be programmed to perform complicated actions like recording keystrokes or take screenshots whenever you use a certain program. Some spyware can even activate computers' microphones and cameras to record everything that is happening in the area around the computer. 

Spyware can be used to analyze user preference to customize online advertising for those users or even for a harmful course such as identifying theft, credit card theft, fraud, blackmail, and industrial espionage. 

Usually, this kind of malware is developed by professional hackers who then sell the secrets in the black market for the use of online fraud and other illegal activities.

Adware and the best example for this is "one-click downloader" - The term adware is frequently used to describe a form of malware that pushes advertisements and banners on your screen.

Most users don't want to see ads but adware can be downloaded without the user being aware of it. It usually happens when you download free software or add-ons some adware programs have functions built in such as analyzing the size you visit to customize ads.

In this case, adware does more than showing advertisements it collects information about you and you aren't even known about it. Although some Adwords don't have malicious intent the execution can be quite intensive at times.

For example when Adware observes your activities without your consent and sends the information to the software's authority, generally there are types of Adwords that are usually classified as spyware and thread accordingly.

However, some adware also operates legally moving on to.

Future of Cybersecurity

The rate at which cybercrime is raising is alarming almost every week a new high-profile cybercrime is being reported. 

Every business no matter what stage of its digital transformation it is it should keep cybersecurity as its topmost priority. Let's see now what the future holds right. 

The cybersecurity professionals are in high demand, the need for skilled cybersecurity professionals desires as every passing day new attacks are being coined that are more powerful than the previous ones. 

These rising threats require skilled cybersecurity professionals to help ensure safety for the individuals as well as for the organization. We can also expect robust integration of Ai in cybersecurity tools and techniques this is because it can improve expert analysis study and understand of cybercrime.

It can also enhance cybersecurity techniques that company uses to combat cybercriminals and help keep their organizations and customers safe. The automation of many roles and tools can also be heavily implemented this will allow performing a constant search for threads and deploy immediate countermeasures.