Cyber Attack: A Growing Concern, know how to save yourself from it

• There is a 38% increase in global cyber attacks in comparison to the previous year.
• There are over 2200 cyber attacks each day which is a concern.
• Financial services are attacked 300 more times than any other industry.
• Humans are responsible for 82% of phishing.
•  It takes an average of 287 days to identify a security breach.

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Table of Content

• Evolution of Cyber Attacks
• Types of Cyber Attacks
• How to protect yourself from Cyber Attacks
• Cyber Security on a small budget
• Impact on Individuals and Organizations

Evolution of Cyber Attacks

• Early Cyber Attacks (the 1980s- 1990s): These types of cyber attacks are very simple and not very harmful, these types of cyber attacks are generally done by hackers who do it for the sake of fun or curiosity like changing the name of other people's social media id for fun.
• Rise of Malware and Viruses (the 2000s): In this era, there saw the widespread of malicious software ( malware) which included viruses, trojans, and worms For Example ILOVEYOU Virus which was sent through e-mail and once opened can remove your control over sending e-mail to contacts, can overwrite files, steal passwords easy.
• Organized Cyber Crime (the Late 2000s): In the late 2000s, hackers and their groups became organized and formed their groups with the intention of financial gain. Ransomware and Banking trojans are popular examples of this era.
• State-sponsored Attacks( the 2010s): Nation states in 2010 began to use this for spying, intelligence gathering, and battle. For example: Russian Intelligence used cyber attacks to know every detail of enemy.
• Advanced cyber attacks and AI ( the 2020s): In the present era cyber-attacks become normal and advanced as no one can identify them easily hackers get all our information easily and we have to suffer huge financial losses. These advancements also support the introduction of artificial intelligence.

Types of Cyber Attacks

• Phishing: Sending such emails or messages to targeted users so they are captured in the trap and reveal their sensitive information like One Time Password, credit card numbers, etc.
• Malware: Malicious software used by hackers to damage, interrupt, or gain unauthorized access to a computer device with the help of which the hackers get sensitive information of users.
• Ransomware: Another cyber-attack used by hackers for some personal gain by encrypting the data of users and demanding payment (ransom) in the change of decryption key.
• Man in the Middle Attack; This type of attack is more popular in which an unauthorized person can enter into your conversation, or transaction and can get sensitive or secret information that he can use for the wrong work such as altering the information.
• Brute Force Attack: A hacker tries all the possible combinations of passwords till the correct password not identified and can get access to your system.

How to protect yourself from Cyber Attack

• Use strong and unique passwords: By using strong passwords, we can ensure that attackers can't guess the password and you should create a unique and different password for different accounts. You can use suggested passwords.
• Enable Two-factor Authentication: Besides primary security and verification, you can use extra and second security by requiring a second verification besides the first which can be related to your personal information that anyone can't guess.
• Keep software updated: Keeping software up to date can protect you from new types of viruses, and threats which protect your information and system.
• By Bary of Phishing: Don't click on unknown or suspicious links and download any application, game, or video from that link because they can steal your personal information by demanding that while you download so don't share your details either. If you still have to download please verify the sender first.
• Limit access and permissions: Don't give permissions to any apps, games, or websites for anything without reading about that properly and only provide your sensitive information to any website if they need that.

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Cyber Security on a small budget

• Use Free Cyber Security Tools: Use free cyber security tools like Ublockorigin to protect your device and data, Avast, and Bitdefender for antivirus software, and always use HTTPS as an extension in which S means security.
• Employee Training: Educate employees about cyber attacks give them training on how to protect themselves from cyber attacks and teach them about cyber security techniques.
• Limit Administrative Access: By limiting administrative access to only personnel and employees and denying other users to use the admin panel you can protect your data from unauthorized users.
• Use open-source security tools: Use open-source security tools such as Open VPN to detect any defect and remove it instantly.
• Monitor Network Traffic: By monitoring network traffic we can track unusual activity on the network.

Impact on Individuals and Organizations

1. Financial Loss: As an Individual, there is a loss of money due to an attack while making a payment or through a bank account. As an Organization, a company can suffer a huge loss in the form of a breach due to which the recovery of money, tax liabilities, and other expenses becomes impossible.
2. Data Breach: Due to a cyber attack, an individual's relative's phone number can be stolen and misused, and for organizations, the data of customers can be stolen and misused.
3. Reputation Damage: An individual's reputation can go down if his/her secrets are revealed in public and an organization can lose its customer's trust due to the loss of goodwill.
4. Operational Hindrance: An individual can't control or access his accounts on social media or other data due to hacking and an organization can't complete the orders on time because it has no data on consumers and their orders leading to the loss of customers.
5. Legal Tension: An individual has to face legal issues because attackers may use his/her account for wrong deeds in his/her name and an organization also has to face legal forums for not protecting the data of consumers.