What is Cyber Attacks

A cyber attack is an action performed by the attackers to gain control or unauthorized access to the computers or any other systems to steal data and cause damage to the system. A significant increase in Cyber threats techniques nowadays threatens devices worldwide and may let attackers steal your data passwords, infiltrate private photos, emails, documents, contact details, and take advantage of hardware flaws in your devices. A cyber attack can be performed by any individual or a group of people from anywhere in the world. When someone attacks any system, there can be many reasons. It can be related to politics, business, money, crime, or personal agendas.

Cybercrime: Commission of the European Communities defines cyber-crime is understood as "criminal acts committed using electronic communications networks and information systems or against such networks and systems". There are two types of cyber threats.

1. Insider Threat: Any individual having access to some sensitive data or having access to the Company's security keys in the Company can misuse and abuse them either intentionally or accidentally. It can be done by any formal employees, ex-employees, Business partners, etc.
2. Outsider Threat: All the attacks caused by unknown people are outsider threats. They include organized or unorganized criminals, professional or amateur hackers, state or country-funded hackers, etc.

What do Hackers Target?

1. Business-related documents like client's details, financial data, Customers Databases, tender values, etc.
2. On individual levels, they target log-in credentials, social media account passwords, your private data, browsing history, etc.
3. Govt. and private organizations extract valuable and sensitive data.
4. IT sectors and infrastructures, Company's plans, Transaction software.

Common Types of Cyber Attacks

Nowadays, as technology is reaching new heights, its dangers are also increasing, and attackers take more advantage of these things. The hacking techniques are also increased with the increase in technology. There are some common types of cyber threats are listed below:

1. Malware: Malware is software or virus used to destroy, steal data, and accesses the system to perform malicious activities. It is transferred to your computer through any links shared on WhatsApp, websites, or email. When you click on the link, it automatically downloads to your system without taking any permission from you and gaining control over your system. Botnet malware, crypto miners, info stealers, mobile malware are some forms of malware.
   • Ransomware: Ransomware is malware that gains control over the system and uses encryption that denies the user access to any resources available in the system. The user or the victim must pay some ransom to get rid of this. In many cases paying the ransom is ineffective and doesn't restore the data.
     • DoS and DDoS attack: DoS stands for Denial-of-Service, and DDoS stands for Distributed-Denial-of-Service. These attacks make the internet, network, or service unavailable for the user. Its main purpose is to make services or the internet unavailable by overloading the site. One computer can do a DoS attack, and a DDoS attack requires multiple computers and an internet connection.
     • Phishing: Phishing is a cybercrime in which a legitimate organization or bank contacts a person via email, text messages, or telephone to obtain sensitive data like bank account details, passwords, etc. Many persons can click the link shared by the attackers, losing their sensitive data.
     • SQL injection: SQL injection is a code injection in the computers or systems that can destroy the databases and perform some commands or similar actions that the user didn't request. It is the most common web hacking technique.
     • Social Engineering: This hacking process is used by the hackers in which people are manipulated very cleverly to start trusting them. And hackers cleverly extract important information from the people like bank details, passwords, etc. There are certain steps that a hacker follows:
2. First, they collect details of a person,
3. Then they try to make good relations with the victim so that they start trusting them,
4. Then they cleverly extract the information and sensitive data like bank account details, passwords, etc. from the victim, and
5. Then they perform their desired work and misuse the data.

• Zero-day Exploit: Zero-day exploit is a type of computer attack which takes advantage of any security hole or hardware and software weakness. Ethical hackers use this technique to find software, applications, and websites bugs. It can be last long until the developer knows about this.

Ethical hacking is a technique to find bugs in software so that cyber threats and data loss are prevented by fixing the bugs. Many ethical hackers use this technique to earn by finding the bug and reporting to the owner. In return, they get a good amount of money, and this process is called bug bounty.

• Man-in-the-middle attack: MITM attack is also known as eavesdropping attack. In this hacking technique, hackers steal, save, or change data between two-party conversations or transactions without knowledge of both. It is one of the most common and popular hacking techniques.

For example, when you chat with someone and are compromised, the messages you and the other person are delivered through the compromised channel. Hackers can read, save or change the messages by decrypting them. They can also send different messages and ask you for your information and passwords, and you will not even know that the hacker sends this message. This hacking technique is also used to steal data from websites. When you enter your log-in credentials on any site, hackers steal your passwords or log-in credentials without knowing you and the host.

Before we understand this hacking technique, we should know about the DNS first.

DNS: DNS stands for Domain name system; this is responsible for how the domain name searched by you is translated into Ip address. For example, when we search for something like "Javatpoint.com", we use human-readable codes that the computers do not understand. DNS translates the human-readable hostnames into machine-readable codes called IP addresses. The results are shown to you accordingly.

DNS Tunneling: DNS tunneling is the method of hacking where hackers take control over DNS and change the IP address of each request. Suppose you searched for Javatpoint.com, but your browser will take you to the other website. It is due to the request sent by you to the DNS being changed by the hackers.

1. Cross-site Scripting Attack (XSS): In this technique, hackers use trusted websites and applications and inject malicious codes there without the knowledge of the host and the website owner to deliver viruses or malware to the victim's computer. These sites act as delivery vehicles. When you visit such compromised sites, you may redirect to other sites, or the viruses and malware present there can be downloaded on your system. Then the hackers will gain control over your system and steal your data.
2. Backdoor Trojan: Hackers always try to find a way to enter someone's network. They can connect your computer with other illegal networks (Zombie Network) or groups of networks and use them for a crime. Hackers use a backdoor to create a backdoor vulnerability in the victim's computer and use them to gain remote or full control over the victim's computer.
3. Zombie Network: Zombie network is also known as a botnet. Hackers first target many computers available on the internet. After that, they control all the computers and operate all the compromised systems/ computers by their system/ computer. Controlling many computers is done by the code called bot and makes a huge network called botnet or Zombie network, and then they attack the server by sending multiple requests at a time, more than the server can accept. By doing this, the server gets crashed or down.
4. Advanced Persistent Threats (APT): Advanced Persistent threats is an attack in which the cybercriminal carries out a prolonged attack on a target computer or system without being detected. It is a continuous and long-term attack process designed to extract and infiltrate valuable data as much as possible. An APT can last in the system for many months and can-do untold damages without being discovered. The life cycle of APT is much longer and more complex than the other cyber threats. The attackers slowly attack the target so that they remain undiscovered and inconspicuous.

How can you protect yourself from Cyberattacks?

1. You can protect yourself from any cyber threat by using a secure network, using antivirus, and not sharing any sensitive data or password with anyone. Always aware of fake emails, text messages, and phone calls.
2. Always try not to visit illegal websites and do not log in there.
3. Always use different and strong passwords for every account and always update them in regular intervals of 3 to 4 months.
4. Use updated applications because there can be some bugs in the older version that hackers can use for malicious activities.
5. Always use the virtual private network (VPN) while using public wi-fi. VPN encrypts the data transmitted by your phone or computer and prevents many types of cyberattacks.
6. Always be aware of using the internet properly, especially teenagers visiting some illegal sites that can be dangerous.
7. When you use any service, computer, or phone, there are always some guidelines for maximizing security and minimizing the cyberthreats. You should always follow those guidelines and turn off unnecessary services on your computer or phone.
8. The attackers only need a weakness or hole in your system to poke into it. It becomes necessary to regularly scan your system and keep your antivirus and scanning system updated.
9. Always purchase a cyber insurance policy so that if hackers attack you, your insurance policy will cover your losses and cost or repair it.

How can Cyber attacks reduce?

Cybersecurity is a method to reduce cyberattacks. It prevents the unauthorized access of sensitive data from any digital attacks and protects critical systems, technologies, people, processes, and data by detecting and reporting.

Why is Cybersecurity Important?

Every country or individuals suffer from cyberattacks. In 2021 the average cost of the data breach was USD 4.24 million globally, where it was USD 3.86 million last year. As we can see, the losses and cyberattacks are increasing daily. To reduce both of them, it becomes necessary to stay protected from any threats and losses. The government, the individual, or the Company has to bear a lot of loss in recovering the data. Every organization uses a secure network and a strong security system to prevent cyberattacks.