Cybercriminals are stealthy in their attacks — especially when financial gains are involved. With this type of attack, hitting the jackpot requires time and patience. Regardless, cybercriminals also employ “noisy” attacks, or ones intended for victims and other website visitors to see. These typically promote very radical or personal views on various subjects. Some common attacks, however, can be either noisy or stealthy, and this includes URL redirection attacks.
Author: Monique Becenti Page 1 of 5
It’s safe to say that the volume and magnitude of high-profile data breaches and ransomware attacks that punctuated 2019 really kept the cybersecurity industry on its toes. Data breaches stole numerous headlines this year, including the notable Capital One breach that exposed more than 100 million customers’ accounts. In fact, New Orleans even declared a state of emergency due to the large number of public services that were directly impacted by this ransomware attack. In comparison to last year, research shows that data breaches have increased by 54% — making 2019 “the worst year on record” for data breaches.
According to SiteLock researchers and cybersecurity experts, the threat landscape will only continue to grow in 2020 and will likely bring even more new challenges with it. We’ve analyzed the current state of the industry and packaged up our top five cybersecurity predictions for 2020.
Did you know that a malicious advertisement could look exactly the same as a legitimate one?
Malware is constantly changing as cybercriminals look for new methods to wreak havoc on website owners and visitors. One of their main tactics is malvertising — tricking visitors into downloading malware disguised as online ads — which can cause problems for both your business and customers. Cybercriminals carry out malvertising cyberattacks in two ways: They either inject malicious code into legitimate digital ads, or they create fake ads and distribute them through ad networks.
It’s easy for an end-user to fall victim to a malvertising attack. Because these devious ads have the same look and feel as legitimate ones, the illicit ads can slip by security checks during the approval process. Once someone clicks the infected ad, it starts a malicious download process and ultimately infects the user’s computer.
SQL injection is such a common tactic in cybercrime that it’s been named a top security threat by the OWASP Top 10, a powerful awareness document representing the most critical security risks to web applications. If you’re not protecting your website from this type of attack, your business and customers are at risk.
So what is an SQL injection attack, and why is this method so popular among professional and amateur cybercriminals?
In November 2018, security researchers from Check Point made an interesting discovery about the wildly popular game “Fortnite” — the website was vulnerable to cross-site scripting attacks. Thanks to an old, unsecured webpage, researchers found out that potential hackers could gain unauthorized access to users’ accounts, in-game currency, and audio recording capabilities — all without ever needing their login information.
The cross-site scripting attacks that dominate headlines tend to be larger-profile cases with big-name companies; in reality, businesses of all sizes can fall victim to this kind of cyberattack. In fact, cross-site scripting attacks account for 31% of all attacks — making it the most common type of attack (followed by SQL injection at 20%).
A backdoor attack is a type of malware that gives cybercriminals unauthorized access to a website. Cybercriminals install the malware through unsecured points of entry, such as outdated plug-ins or input fields. Once they enter through the back door, they have access to all your company’s data, including customers’ personal identifiable information (PII).
As the name suggests, a backdoor attack is stealthy, and cybercriminals often slip in undetected.
The holidays are just around the corner, and with it comes the inevitable holiday shopping rush. In fact, holiday shopping can account for up to 30 percent of annual sales for online retailers. As Black Friday kicks off what is expected to be another lucrative online holiday season, there are vast opportunities for cybercriminals to steal shopper’s information through spoofed websites, malicious coupon code links, and phishy marketing campaigns. Any downtime resulting from an attack can severely impact holiday profits, not to mention annual revenue. This time of year, it’s more important than ever that ecommerce businesses make cybersecurity a top priority in order to protect their website, customers, and bottom line.
Additionally, consumers should be aware of the risks that exist online to defend their information proactively. Being cyber-aware while shopping online is the new reality for consumers, and it becomes even more imperative during the holiday season.
In the world of cybersecurity, the looming menace of advanced persistent threats and state-sponsored attack groups tend to dominate the headlines. However, research indicates that phishing attacks are the most common threat — by far.
Microsoft’s “Security Intelligence Report, Volume 24” shows a 250% increase in the number of phishing attacks since 2018. If you think the primary victims of email-related breaches are large corporations with vast amounts of data, think again. Small and mid-size businesses are now the preferred target of cybercriminals, and these organizations have a lot to lose. In fact, 60% of them fail within six months of a cyberattack.
To avoid becoming a victim, it’s critical to prevent phishing attacks.
Your small business is growing fast. That’s good news! But rapid growth also presents new challenges. Perhaps most importantly, as sales and website traffic increase, you become a more attractive target for cybercriminals.
At SiteLock, we developed a proprietary risk score based on over 500 variables to help website owners gauge the overall risk of their sites on a scale from low to high. Each of the variables can be grouped into three main categories: a site’s complexity, its popularity, and its composition. In general, the more variables a site has, the higher the risk level. Those websites deemed high risk are 26 times more likely to experience a breach.
Modern cybercriminals have an array of weapons in their cyber arsenals. As technology evolves, their tools and methods continue to become more sophisticated. Ransomware is among these weapons — and it poses a significant threat. Cybersecurity Ventures estimates that a ransomware attack targets a business every 14 seconds, and that number will fall to 11 seconds by 2021. Because no business is too small to become the target of a ransomware attack, it’s important to understand how to proactively defend your organization.
