Online landscape for cybersecurity has always been susceptible to hacking. But, there have also always been ways to protect a system on the internet from hackers. The most serious means that hackers use nowadays to exploit security vulnerabilities include malware attacks.
Carried out in the form of phishing, the most advanced and mostly used kinds of malware that hackers prefer releasing inside a system include:
- Ransomware
- Trojan Horse
- Botnet
Ransomware
Ransomware, as the name suggests, includes blackmailing. When a hacker is able to dupe users into clicking on malware affected links, the malware that enters inside the system locks the user out. The hacker then asks for a ransom in exchange for the hacked information. The worst part is – even if the ransom is paid, there’s no guarantee that hackers won’t exploit what they hacked. They could, and they do, replicate the data and use it to launch more specific phishing attacks like spear phishing.
A Trojan horse
Another advanced method of malware infestation, a Trojan horse is more like a malicious software. It looks like a genuine software that, if downloaded in a system, gives hackers an access inside the system.
Botnets
Bots created by hackers – used as botnets – work like a network of many malware infected computers that, simultaneously, launch malware attacks via spamming email Campaigns.
Having said that, if you witness any of the below listed things happening in your computer, it could mean that the system is already compromised.
- If the screen of the system gets frozen.
- Genuine looking pop-up ads keep appearing time and again.
Now, other than watching out for such symptoms, what you can also do is adopt the following cybersecurity techniques that will protect your systems from all such malware attacks.
Some of the most effective techniques are listed below. Adopt them to ensure you’re well guarded against hackers already.
Use MFA Technique
This is a cybersecurity measure where biometric layers are added in combination with the backdoor password of the system. In other words, the password is just the first layer to get system access, there are more – at least 3. Only when all security layers are cleared that a user gets to access the system. And, it’s not easy to duplicate the biometrics of a user. So, using this technique will make your system better protected from malware.
Use Firebreaks
Firebraking or network segmentation is done in order to divide the information of a company and storing it in independent networks. When in implementation, if a hacker somehow gets access inside a system, the entire company cannot be hacked. The systems on the infected networks are the only ones that will be hacked. In the meanwhile, the security team could raise an alert asking other employees to shut down their systems.
That said, desperate times require desperate measures, and these COVID times are desperate times. So, make sure you adopt as many security measures as you can to protect your firm from online threat actors.
