Cyber attacks can expose sensitive data and disrupt systems, whether it’s ransomware, phishing schemes or data breaches. To manage the risk of these threats, the combination of training, technology policies, and procedures is needed to protect the digital assets, network infrastructure, and other critical systems.
Cyber threats are constantly evolving and arising in all sectors and industries. The Internet of Things (IoT) and the rise of cloud computing are opening new avenues for attack for bad actors, who may have access to large corporate networks through third-party providers and their devices that are connected to them, such as smart speakers, printers or cameras. These attacks could be used by malicious actors to steal money, gain access to sensitive information or disrupt critical services.
Threats include social engineering (phishing) as well as insider threats, advanced persistent threats (APTs) and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Social engineering utilises human interaction to gain unauthorized system access. It can take a variety of forms, including spoofing employees as remote tech support agents during COVID-19 to https://boardroomstudio.org/what-is-cybersecurity/ entice them into divulging passwords or pretending to be an executive to gain access to financial or customer databases.
These threats can result in direct, real costs to organizations of any size. They could result in compromised employee and consumer data interruption of services, financial loss penalties from regulatory authorities and legal consequences. They can also hurt the reputation of a brand and undermine the trust of consumers in an organisation. These effects can last for a long time, even after the threat has been identified and remediated.