Top Data Security Threats That Can Affect Your Business

The advent of the internet and digitalization has made handling business data a very easy task. But it has its own share of risks and threats too. There are some unethical hackers who use their knowledge in wrong ways to penetrate into your network or device. These hackers can pose some risky threats to your business. So, it is important for you to understand different types of security threats that can affect your business. While these threats come in different forms, here we are discussing some of the most common data security threats. Ignoring any of these can put you in great loss.

  • Ransomware

Among the myriads of security threats, ransomware is one of the most dangerous one. It is not only a threat to the security of your data but it can also cost you lots of money. The hackers who send ransomware first encrypt the data either on a device or a network. And later, they would threaten the owner of the data to keep the data encrypted, delete it or publish it if they are not paid the demanded ransom. You need to stay vigilant so that you do not get in the situation where you are asked for a ransom to keep your own data safe. The risk of getting ransomware is increasing day by day. Earlier, only a person with good knowledge of coding was able to send ransomware but things have changed due to the availability of ransomware kits on the dark web. You must have proper knowledge about recovery back up to keep yourself safe from this situation.

  • Phishing

This is one of the fastest growing security threats these days. To keep your business safe from phishing, you need to educate your staff about what it is and how to prevent it effectively. The cybercriminals often contact their target through e-mails, text messages or telephone posing themselves as legitimate institutions to steal important security information. If your employees are not trained well, you can suffer major financial losses due to their ignorance. Thousands of cases all around the globe are registered every month where a cybercriminal stole important security and financial information by pretending as the financial director or boss of the company or as a colleague. The e-mail is received from a trustworthy source but it eventually leads a person to a compromised website full of malware. Every employee holding confidential information about the company should be trained to avoid getting trapped into phishing.

  • Botnet

Generally, business websites rather than their confidential information are targeted by the botnet. These are actually a group of computers connected to the internet that has been compromised by unethical hackers using malware. The hackers controlling these computers are often called the bot-herder or bot-master and they use these computers to indulge in various types of cyber crimes such as spreading spam e-mails as well as targeting business websites. The hackers targeting the websites generally overload the website with access request with an intention to bring down the web server. When websites are targeted with loads of access request, they crash down and the users are not able to use these websites. Even a single day of Denial of Service can affect your business badly. If your website is an e-commerce website, the botnet can cause huge financial and reputational loss, to say the least. 

  • Rootkit

This again is a grave security threat. A rootkit is a collection of tools that are used by cybercriminals to get an administrator-level access to your computer, network or server. An expert hacker can use a security hole in a legitimate application to enter into your system and install varieties of malware and spyware. By installing spyware, the criminal can get access to the records of your monitor and even keystrokes. It is not tough to understand that these records can be used to steal all important information which can be used against you and your business in any way. 

The scariest thing about rootkits is that the hacker may be maintaining access to your system without even being noticed by you. Rootkits are the most popular method among the cyber attackers who are into spreading malware at a mass level rather than targeting a single person or business. They are developed to automatically and silently exploit the vulnerabilities of targeted victims.

You might be putting all your efforts in growing your business and maintaining its online presence. However, all this can go in vain if you are attacked by any of the above-discussed data security threats. So, it is always advisable to protect your business from such threats rather than searching for a solution later when the problem actually hits you in the face. 

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