If your organization has poor network security, it can result in vulnerabilities that lead to cyberattacks.
Cyberattacks lead to extended network downtime and can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair the damaged network. Additionally, some cyberattacks cause permanent network damage.
For this reason, your organization needs to have reliable network security to avoid cyberattacks and the consequences that they bring.
Understanding what the most common cyberattacks are and how to avoid them will help you prevent them in your organization.
Coeo understands how important reliable network security is and how damaging cyberattacks can be.
We have delivered thousands of network security solutions to organizations to help them improve their network security and avoid cyberattacks and data breaches.
By the end of this article, you will understand the most common types of cyberattacks and how to avoid them.
The most common types of cyberattacks
Cyberattacks are detrimental to an organization no matter what type of attack it is.
However, understanding the most common types of cyberattacks can help you structure your network security to prevent them from happening in your organization.
The most common types of cyberattacks include:
Malware attack
A malware attack, short for malicious hardware, is an attack that intrudes on an organization’s network. The attack is designed to exploit the network and devices connected to it. Malware is typically downloaded unintentionally by a user connected to the network.
A malware attack can be downloaded by clicking a link in a phishing email or on a website. Once downloaded, malware can copy itself and infect other parts of the network infrastructure and other devices on the network as well.
There are many different types of malware attacks that can affect a network. Two frequent types of malware attacks are ransomware and viruses.
Ransomware
Ransomware, as mentioned above, is a type of malware attack. Ransomware attacks a user’s computer and files and prevents the person from being able to use them until a ransom is paid for them to be unlocked.
Historically, most ransomware attacks targeted a single computer. However, most human-driven ransomware attacks today target multiple computers at one time to attempt to extort larger sums of money.
Additionally, some automated ransomware attacks are sophisticated enough to shuffle through company documents and based on company financial results, set a specific price based on the organization’s financial strength.
DDoS attack
A Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack happens when a hacker gains access to a user’s device and sends a flood of traffic to the network or service.
This technique overwhelms the network and disrupts its ability to operate. This makes it difficult for authorized users to access the network.
DDoS attacks can target any public-facing network resource such as office network connections, application servers, and phone systems. These types of attacks are on the rise and have become more popular over the last couple of years.
If you would like to speak with our team to learn more about cyberattacks and how to avoid them or ask any questions you may have you can schedule an appointment.
How to avoid cyberattacks
Now you understand the most common types of cyberattacks. This will help you understand how to prepare your network to avoid them.
Additionally, it is important to understand best practices to avoid cyberattacks. Some of the ways to avoid a cyberattack include:
Update network security
One of the most important ways to prevent cyberattacks is to update network security. Updated network security can help mitigate and prevent vulnerabilities that cause cyberattacks.
Security solutions such as SASE can provide better network security policies and mitigate threats identified in the network, automatically eliminating malware and malicious actors found in your network.
Educate employees on the best practices to avoid clicking on malicious links
Because some cyberattacks such as malware and ransomware penetrate the network as a result of human error, it is important to educate employees on the importance of network security and the best practices to avoid security vulnerabilities.
Malware and ransomware are attacks that enter the network by a user clicking on malicious links in emails or websites.
Because of this, it is important to educate employees on the concept of phishing emails, malicious links, and attachments to prevent them from making errors that cause cyberattacks.
Phishing emails containing a link or attachment must be avoided. It is important to train employees not to click on email links or attachments from unknown sources.
Additionally, some emails may look like they come from people in your contact list but are actually malicious actors.
It is important to check the actual address the email is sent from before opening it. If it is a malicious source, it will not have the same email address as a coworker or employee whose email it looked like it came from.
Malicious links and attachments can also be found on social media posts. Most malicious social media posts won’t look quite right and may often have misspelled words or unusual spacing, symbols, or punctuation.
Making sure to train employees to look out for these signs in social media posts will help them determine if the post is malicious.
Avoiding cyberattacks in your organization
Now you understand what the most common types of cyberattacks are and how to avoid them. This will help you prepare your network security to better avoid cyberattacks.
No organization benefits from a cyberattack. While there are many different types of cyberattacks, all of them can cause detrimental damage to an organization’s network performance and productivity levels.
Cyberattacks can cause extended network downtime which makes it difficult for employees to efficiently perform their jobs.
Additionally, cyberattacks can corrupt or compromise sensitive information, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair the network, and in some cases cause permanent network damage.
For this reason, it is important to understand what the most common types of cyberattacks are and how to avoid them to improve your network security and utilize the best practices for preventing a cyberattack to avoid these consequences.
Coeo understands how important reliable network security is and has delivered thousands of security solutions and services to organizations to help them improve network security and avoid cyberattacks.
We want you to understand what the most common types of cyberattacks are and how to avoid them so you can improve your network security.
If you would like to speak with our team to learn more about cyberattacks and how to avoid them or ask any questions you may have you can schedule an appointment.
Now that you understand the most common types of cyberattacks and how to avoid them, read this article to understand when your network is under a cyberattack:
