According to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), 1,115 out of 1,473 data breach cases filed in 2019 across the United States involved piracy, intrusion, or unauthorized access. This means that at least 76% of these cyber-attacks, carried out on U.S. territory, are part of the most common cyber-crimes group.
Such digital attacks, which are wrongly classified as “simple”, tend to bring consequences such as the loss of identifiable information and considerable damage to both the network and the IT infrastructure of any company.
In order to learn more about them, we have developed a list of the five most common types of cyber attacks, each with its own concept and explanation. Read on for more details.
Which are the 5 most common cyber attacks?
Like Digital Security professionals, cyber attackers also innovate and change their modus operandi as well as their attack strategies. In other words, from the cybersecurity field, it’s wise to expect new kinds of attacks.
In the meantime, the best we can do is to focus on those attacks that are most prevalent in the world. Therefore, these are then the five most common types of cyber attacks.
Insertion of software or malware
When we talk about malware, we must tell you that this digital attack includes different types of threats. Some of them are viruses, Trojans, adware, spyware, and rescue software.
In addition to this, once these programs have access to a system, they are capable of generating tremendous damage. In other words, they can affect databases or classified files, or harm any application.
Impersonation through social engineering
Unlike the insertion of malware, phishing is based on provoking a natural reaction by the affected user. In other words, the attacker poses as a trusted entity or personality and invites the person to click on a link or download a file. This type of cyber attack usually takes place via email, text message (SMS), or mobile phone communication channels.
Attack of intermediaries
These types of attacks occur most often when a company’s employees are connected to an unsafe network. The brokerage attack consists of breaking into transactions made between two parties and stealing the data. It can also happen that one of the two parties is already compromised and consequently affects the other.
Denial of Service or DoS attack
This basically consists of altering a service, device, or application in order to cancel the access of the legitimate user. The cybercriminals who carry out these attacks usually alter the servers with insubstantial traffic. All this with the aim of forcing the victim user to pay a ransom.
SQL Injection
This is one of the most common methods of perpetrating cyber attacks in the digital world. It involves introducing malicious code into the Structured Query Language, through which communications from a database flow.
When the code is injected, the database is exposed to unauthorized users. From here, all valuable information of an organization can be stolen or altered.
How to prevent becoming a victim of the most common cyber attacks?
There are numerous ways to counteract this unfortunate situation in which thousands of people and companies become victims of cyber attacks every day. One of them is the use of Digital Security and ITSM tools and software.
These types of tools vary according to the cybersecurity objective. However, in this particular case, vulnerability management and assessment is the right security tactic to combat the most common cyber attacks.
One of the most sophisticated software that provides this service is Tenable. This application provides a clear view of the risks and threats facing an IT infrastructure. In addition, it allows you to quickly identify, investigate, and prioritize a company’s vulnerabilities.
In case you want to try a free version of Tenable and its vulnerability scanner, Nessus, contact us as soon as possible. At GB Advisors, we care about helping you fight cyber attacks by offering you the right advice in terms of cybersecurity.
You can read the full ITRC’s report here.
