How to avoid the most common causes of cyber attacks

Cyber Security Awareness Month celebrated its 20th anniversary this October, yet cyber attacks have grown to become a major threat for all organisations, with around half of UK businesses suffering an attack or security breach in the last 12 months. Today we will be thinking about typical cyber attacks and how we can help you to spot vulnerabilities early, stop threats from escalating and secure your business with FluidOne and CSA, ensuring that awareness of cyber security remains fresh all year round.

Most Common Types of Cyber Attacks – And How FluidOne & CSA Can Help

Phishing

Spot It - Phishing is one of the most prevalent cyber threats, involving attackers posing as trusted entities to trick employees into revealing sensitive information, like passwords or financial data. With phishing attacks on the rise, employees are frequently targeted via fake emails or malicious links.

Stop It - The Business Continuity Institute (BCI) has found through their research that the frequency of cyber attacks is increasing, with an increase in cyber attacks over the past year being felt by 74.5% of organisations. For combatting these threats the BCI has found that awareness and training of staff was among the top priorities of organisations, so that everybody in an organisation takes an active part in threat detection. One of the major reasons for this priority is that employees are often the topic of phishing campaigns, making it necessary for staff to be trained to identify malicious emails and know how to report them.

Training is a service that our dedicated cyber security sister company, CSA, can provide to any organisation that is serious about equipping their staff with cyber security knowledge. Their webinars and e-learning courses can provide lessons covering a wide variety of cyber security issues. CSA also can provide simulation exercises and phishing campaigns, to test the ability of staff to play a frontline role in the fight against cyber attacks.

Ransomware

Spot It - Ransomware attacks can cripple your business by locking down access to critical files until a ransom is paid. Unfortunately, paying the ransom doesn't guarantee you’ll get your data back, making prevention and response strategies key.

Stop It - Cyber security is a process that is never complete – threats are continually evolving, meaning that companies must stay vigilant, regardless of how well protected they think they are. However, while businesses may know that they must keep a look out for threats, they may not know what to look out for. It is common for organisations without expert knowledge to have their time wasted investigating unnecessary alerts, while genuine threats can remain undetected for enough time for data to be breached.

Our partners at CSA know exactly what to look for by utilising their Managed Detection & Response (MDR) service, powered by Microsoft Sentinel and Sentinel One. Their proactive approach to cyber security can monitor you 24/7: detecting suspicious activity; hunting down threats through an incident response service; and assisting in rapid breach incident analysis. This allows you to be on the constant lookout for dangers against your organisation, while being safe in the knowledge that you will only be spending time on the true threats.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)

Spot It - DDoS attacks aim to overwhelm your servers, causing significant downtime and halting operations. These attacks can lead to serious financial and reputational damage by making your services unavailable.

Stop It - Managing the cyber security of an organisation is a full-time job and most businesses are unable to hire their own in-house team of professionals. Companies often either assign duties to already stretched existing employees or neglect their security entirely. They may not even be aware that outsourcing to a dedicated Security Operations Centre (SOC) team, such as those provided at CSA, is an option.

A SOC is a team of security professionals who protect an organisation’s IT infrastructure. They do everything from 24/7 monitoring to threat response, meaning that you know that you always have someone in your corner to handle any threat. This can allow your employees to focus on their actual duties, safe in the knowledge that they are being protected by experts.

Malware

Spot It - Malware encompasses a wide variety of malicious software, from viruses to trojans, designed to infiltrate your systems, steal data, or cause disruption. Malware is often delivered through phishing emails or compromised websites, making robust defences essential.

Stop It - Data is what the modern economy is built upon. It allows businesses to make strategic decisions and to best serve their customers and employees. Data is, therefore, incredibly valuable, which is why it is often the objective behind a cyber attack. Having the right protection in place can not only prevent an attack from happening in the first place, but also protect valuable data should a breach occur.

FluidOne’s sister company CSA provide AppGuard Enterprise as a solution to all data protection needs. This patented technology is not only able to detect threats and prevent them from entering an organisation’s infrastructure, but also to proactively disrupt malware, meaning organisation’s do not have to be exclusively reactive in the face of an attack.

Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) Attacks

Spot It - MitM attacks occur when attackers intercept communication between two parties, often to steal data or credentials. These attacks can be particularly dangerous on unsecured networks, where attackers can eavesdrop on sensitive information.

Stop It - Perfection is hard to find in this world and is essentially non-existent in cyber security. Even a well-protected business is only as strong as their weaknesses. Cyber Assessments can identify vulnerabilities in your network where MitM attacks might occur. FluidOne’s partners at CSA can work to ensure that companies have enhanced defences, for instance, through the conducting of a Microsoft 365 security assessment to ensure the correct configuration of all the necessary security controls.

Penetration testing is another way we can help. This process sees our cyber security experts attempt to find and exploit your cyber vulnerabilities. The security of infrastructure, products, and the cloud can all be tested, providing a comprehensive view of what weaknesses need to be addressed. All our results, recommendations and remediation support can be viewed on our dedicated Vulnerability Management Platform.

Insider Threats

Spot It - Not all cyber attacks originate externally. Insider threats can come from employees, contractors, or vendors with access to sensitive information. These individuals can deliberately or unintentionally expose your organisation to attacks, making internal security measures just as important as external defences.

Stop It - All businesses require different levels of outsourced support, particularly when it comes to cyber security. Some companies will need support from entire teams, while others will instead prefer one individual performing a specialised role that cannot be found within their own organisation.

CSA offer a range of Cyber Security Executives and advisors to suit the needs of an organisation of any size. Whether you need a Virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO), Virtual Chief Technology Officer (vCTO), Virtual Information Security Manager (vISM), or a Virtual Data Protection Officer (vDPO), all forms of IT and cyber advice and guidance can be obtained. These people can help you do everything from securing your data to developing an incident response plan to implement in the event of a cyber attack.

SECURED

At FluidOne we don’t believe in marking our own homework, which is why our dedicated cyber security sister company, CSA remains independent with its own leadership and catalogue of services. This not only ensures an independent review of anything we provide, but also guarantees that they remain the best cyber specialists in the market, keeping you safe and allowing you to focus on your business operations.

Take the first step in strengthening your cyber security today by contacting us for a free Maturity and Gap Analysis Assessment, to understand what direction your cyber security journey needs to take to remain resilient.