Cyber Exploits are a Major Problem for Businesses
To first understand what a cyber exploit is, you must first understand what a vulnerability is, how they differ from each other and how a vulnerability can create a way for an exploit to occur.
What is Cyber Vulnerability?
Vulnerabilities are a weakness or an error that has potential to be a threat. Some examples of these include compromised authentication methods, lack of data encryptions, weak passwords, unsecure software, human error, etc. Vulnerabilities are representations of faults or weaknesses in a system or process that can be exploited.
What Are Cyber Exploits?
When a network or system has a vulnerability, a cyber-criminal can take advantage by exploiting the vulnerability by installing malicious code. Common types of exploits include phishing attacks, social engineering tactics, malware (viruses, ransomware, etc.) and data breaches.
How Do Exploits Work?
Cyber-criminals find vulnerabilities and take advantage of them to install code and gain access to a system. Once they can exploit a vulnerability, a cyber-criminal can have free reign to do whatever they want causing years of financial damage.
One of the most common vulnerabilities is called zero-day or zero-day attack. This is a weakness that cyber-criminals discovered and exploited before a patch is available. Unfortunately, they can be challenging to detect and mitigate.
To read specific examples of some zero-day attacks and deeper explanation of zero-day attacks, IBM has some quality examples.
What Is the Impact of Cyber Exploits?
Vulnerabilities that have been exploited can lead to data breaches and cyber-attacks. The result can be economic loss (loss of revenue) for an individual or company. One of the possibilities are cyber criminals holding data for ransom. Of course, a company’s loss of reputation cannot be easily measured in monetary value.
How Do I Avoid Cyber Exploitation?
The best measure to avoid cyber exploitation is preventative measures. Below is a summary of some basic measures to ensure your company is taking measures to find weaknesses to avoid being exploited.
- Cybersecurity risk assessments are performed to look for company weak points.
- Ensure your computer and phones are up to date and patches are installed.
- If a systems cannot be patched, ensure that it is separated and protected with additional security protocols.
- Work with a reputable IT company to have security monitoring that is automated.
- Work with a reputable IT company to set up other best practices including limiting staff privileges, best practices, stays knowledgeable about the latest threats, etc.
To read more about active exploitation as well as what classifies as active exploitation, read more on the cisa.gov site.
Work With a Trusted Advisor.
When planning for your cyber security needs, it is essential to find a cyber security company you can trust with your livelihood. Given the evolving tactics and tricks cybercriminals use, it’s important that the company you trust has the right tools, training and processes to protect your assets to keep you working.
Peace of mind about company data is achieved when there is a qualified, experienced MSP (Managed Service Provider) looking for you. At 4BIS Cyber Security, we have thirty years of experience. We love knowing we are keeping our client’s data secure and their employees working!
Contact us to discuss what data strategies would work best for your company.
