3 types of dangerous cyber attacks in 2021

Ransomware that encrypts data

Business 'blackmail' malware has blossomed in 2020 in terms of both target and vulnerability. They extend attackers to hospitals, medical and financial institutions, and essential infrastructure facilities to increase ransom pressure and value.

The report from Coveware shows that ransomware 'favors' SMEs with less than 100 employees when the number of attacks targeting this group accounts for 55%.

A new feature of ransomware 2.0 malware is that they not only encrypt the ransom data, but also blackmail the victim from being published on the network.

3 types of dangerous cyber attacks in 2021 Picture 1

The main goal of cyber attacks is to steal data for a ransom.

Phishing via email and mobile messages

Old tricks but always useful, helping hackers through the mistakes of employees or important people in the business to break into the network, steal financial information, corporate data.

Statistics from Abnormal Security show that the number of phishing emails disguised as invoices and payments increased by 81%, causing an average loss of $ 81,000 per phishing attack.

New level of distraction from cyberattacks

According to security firm Kaspersky, APT cybercriminal groups forged disguised modules that look like the work of another author to deflect attention and investigation, such as the case of Olympic Destroyer.

Other notable attack campaigns such as MontysThree and DeathStalker, particularly in the case of DeathStalker, have incorporated authentication metadata from Sofacy into their infrastructure, subsequently trading in secret to distract people. allegations.

To cope with the above risks, SME leaders should have a well-organized plan for information security, hire staff or outsource services.

The first step is to review the entire network, database, equipment, and decentralization of the business. The vulnerabilities for cybercriminals to attack are also loopholes in commonly used software such as Microsoft Office, Adobe PDF, web browser . which have not yet been patched by developers.

Lesley Montoya

Update 02 February 2021