Many of us are aware that there has been a lot of talk about cyberattacks, but many remain unfamiliar with the different types of cyber attacks and how they work. This blog post will provide you with information on the top ten types of cyberattacks to help better understand these crimes as well as how to protect yourself from them.
Cyberattacks are often occurring these days in one form or another, and it’s important for people to know about the different types of attacks so that we can all be more cautious when it comes to our own personal data. Cyber attacks are often occurring these days in one form or another, and it’s important for people to know about the different types of attacks so that we can all be more cautious when it comes to our own personal data.
Today we will be discussing the top ten types of cyberattacks. This list has been made by Global Web Index and was based on feedback from a global sample of over 6,000 adults. The results show how many people had experienced each type of attack both in the last year and ever. This is a very interesting read, and it doesn’t stop at just the top ten, so you’ll definitely want to check out the entire article at the link below.
Information stealing
There are many different ways people can be attacked, whether they actually want to attack you or not. So what may look like a legitimate request by someone else may actually be a cyber-attack meant to steal information or even just as simple as a spam email. There are ways to protect yourself from cyberattacks, and what’s important is that you become aware of the different types of attacks.
Email Phishing
Email Phishing (59% experienced ever; 29% experienced in the last 12 months) For those that do not know, phishing is when someone sends out emails disguised as something from another site. . These emails usually ask for personal information
Ransomware .
Ransomware (46% experienced ever; 16% experienced in the last 12 months) Ransomware is a type of malware that restricts access to your data by locking the computer or any files. The way this works is that a victim receives a message explaining that they will have to pay to regain access to their files/computer. The message usually mentions something, such as the FBI, threatening to take legal action if the victim doesn’t pay, but sometimes it’s just hackers that are doing it for fun. This can be very damaging for someone’s computer who isn’t familiar with ransomware or how to protect themselves from these attacks.
Password Hacking
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Password hacking is when someone is able to get into an account by guessing or stealing the password. Most of the time this involves getting a person’s email/password and then going through their other accounts, even if they are not connected to that particular email (43% experienced ever; 21% experienced in the last 12 months).
IP Spoofing
IP spoofing is a trick commonly used to gain access to passwords or personal information. It’s when someone uses a fake IP address instead of their own to trick a program into thinking it’s logging in from somewhere else. This sounds way too easy, but it is actually very difficult to detect (37% experienced ever; 19% experienced in the last 12 months)
Bulk Email Spam
Bulk email spam is when someone sends out an email to multiple people with the same message at the same time, hoping that this will collect enough email addresses for them to sell or spam later on. It’s usually for little emails that can be deleted without reading, but there are some emails that may look like they are from someone trustworthy, such as your bank (36% experienced ever; 18% experienced in the last 12 months)
Password Cracking
This is when someone tries to guess a password. This can be done a few different ways, but most of the time they will use a dictionary attack that just starts with words in the dictionary and works its way through until it guesses successfully(34% experienced ever; 17% experienced in the last 12 months)
Password Reuse
Password reuse is when someone uses the same password for multiple accounts and this makes it easier for hackers to steal their passwords. Even if a hacker doesn’t know your password they can use the username to try to guess your passwords(31% experienced ever; 18% experienced in the last 12 months).
Malicious Software Installation
Malicious software installation is when someone installs malware on your computer without you knowing about it. This can range from accidentally downloading a file that has malware, to someone hacking your computer and installing malicious software(31% experienced ever; 18% experienced in the last 12 months). The way this usually works is that the person will be using a tool or launcher to run the malware which, once installed, can connect back to the hacker’s computer and give them access to your personal information.
Social Networking Sites Breached
Social networking sites are websites where people share personal information with others and often have photos as well. If someone gets their hands on your information from these sites, they can use it to gather more personal information about you and even steal your identity(22% experienced ever; 15% experienced in the last 12 months).
Criminal Access
Criminal access is when someone gets into your computer without you knowing. This could happen if someone hacked into your computer or if you downloaded software that did this(21% experienced ever; 14% experienced in the last 12 months).
Attackers Extending their Reach
This is when someone has access to a computer outside of their network, most commonly through the internet. This can be done in many different ways, but most often is done by a hacker accessing your system through the internet(19% experienced ever; 11% experienced in the last 12 months)
Password Sharing
Password sharing is when someone uses a password that they had used on another account with another site or service. This can be harmful if the site they used it on was hacked because then the hacker will have access to other information that they would not have had otherwise(10% experienced ever; 8% experienced in the last 12 months). An interesting note from this survey is that only 9% knew how to protect themselves from internet attacks and only 13% had a computer security incident response plan in place. These numbers should definitely be higher, which is why it is important to educate yourself and know how to protect yourself.
Conclusion
Here are a few tips that will help you protect yourself: It is crucial that you change all of your passwords often. The longer you wait to change them, the more damage your password can do if someone finds it. Alongside, Appsealing will provide you best security devices.