Common Types of Cybercrimes That Businesses Should Be Aware of

Do you run a business? As a business owner, you have two goals. You aim to make a profit and please your customers.

You can’t do this if your company is in a vulnerable position for cybercrimes. Cybercriminals are targeting businesses and their computer networks.

No company is safe as even major businesses are the victim of cybercrimes. You need to know the types of cybercrimes that exist.

Read this article to learn about these types of crimes. You need to be ready to prevent cyber attacks on your business.

What Is a Cyber Attack

A cyber attack is an action that targets a computer system. The reasons why cyber attacks are carried out vary. Their intentions are always malicious.

Cybercriminals can conduct these attacks to access protected data. They can seek to steal the data. They can change or destroy the data.

Cybercriminals might also seek to exploit a network. It can also be done to harm a network. Harming a network can lead to the disruption of digital operations.

Different people or organizations can be behind cyber attacks. Terrorist groups and criminal organizations are often at the helm of these attacks. Even disgruntled employees can seek to carry out cybercrimes.

Phishing Attacks

Phishing attacks are among the most common types of cybercrimes. This type of attack involves sending fake communication to a target. The goal is to get sensitive information from the target.

Fake communication often takes the form of an email. The target will open what seems to be an email from a legitimate source.

The target might receive an email or link with instructions. It can instruct the target to enter credit card information.

In some cases, the link might contain malware. This type of software can collect private information. The target might not even realize there’s an issue.

DoS and DDoS Attacks

A denial-of-service (DoS) attack involves flooding a computer or network. The goal is to prevent it from responding to legitimate service requests.

A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack has a similar MO. With this type of cyberattack, the attacker uses malware-infected host machines.

When a DoS attack occurs, the target site will get lots of illegitimate requests. The site will then have to respond to all the requests. This can result in a complete shutdown of the site.

SQL Injection

A Structured Query Language (SQL) injection can wreak havoc on a server. This is a common way for cybercriminals to take advantage of websites that use databases.

This cyber-attack makes use of an SQL query. Once injected, it will penetrate the system.

Several things can happen if this cyber attack is successful. It can release sensitive data. In some cases, it can change or delete important data.

With the malicious code, a cyber attacker can also execute administrator operations. This will enable the cyber attacker to do a shutdown command. This can affect the way the database functions.

DNS Spoofing

Domain Name System (DNS) spoofing involves sending traffic from a legit website to a fake website. This spoofing focuses on altering DNS records.

Any type of sensitive information that is entered into a fake website can be used by cybercriminals. Some of them might seek to sell the information.

Brute Force Attack

A brute force attack is a simple method that cybercriminals can use to make their way into a target system. The cyber attacker will guess a user’s login credentials to get access to the system.

They often use bots to do all the work. The bots will get a list of potential credentials and try each one until it’s able to get into the system. Once inside, there’s no telling what the hacker will do.

Trojan Horses

Trojan horses can come inside a malicious program. A user might not know they’re using one because it will look like a legitimate program. The malware that’s inside the Trojan can open through a system.

It’ll allow the hacker to penetrate the computer or network. A Trojan can be found in emails too, so any suspicious email should be a red flag. Don’t open any emails that come from a sender you aren’t familiar with.

Ransomware

Ransomware is a favorite among cybercriminals. They use it to hold a victim’s system hostage. The victim will need to pay the attacker a ransom to get the system back.

After paying the ransom, the victim will get instructions from the attacker. The instructions will outline how to get the system back.

In this type of cyber attack, the target will download the ransomware. It can come from a website or an email attachment. It’ll include malware that exploits weaknesses.

Even if a system has virus protection software, it might not be safe. Cybercriminals often design a code that can evade this type of software.

Business security teams have to be on the lookout for this type of cyber attack. Such an attack can lead to major consequences. To learn more about ransomware click here.

Be Familiar With These Types of Cybercrimes

Every business needs to be on top of its business security. There are so many cyber threats that can ruin a business. These are some of the most common types of cybercrimes.

Make sure that you take the right actions to protect your business from cybercriminals and their cyber attacks. They’re always trying to find new ways to cause havoc.

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