On the software level, there are many kinds of threats; they all range from annoying to an outright danger to your organization. Let’s talk about a few examples and how they might affect your operations with the business.
Malware is a serious cyber threat that affects millions of people around the world. It’s short for “malicious software” and is any intrusive software developed by hackers to steal data and damage or destroy computers. Examples of common malware include viruses, worms, Trojan viruses, spyware, adware, and ransomware. Malware attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated as hackers use more advanced techniques to exfiltrate data in mass amounts from unsuspecting victims.
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Software that steals information and spies on the system it is installed on. This usually allows the attacker to see what the user is doing and exfiltrate information from the attacked machine or user. Spyware is malicious software designed to spy on the user of a computer or device. It often works in the background and operates without the user’s knowledge or permission. Spyware can be used to steal passwords, financial information, and other personal data.
Example of a tool attacker could use to compromise you and your business
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Keyloggers usually allow you to log what the user is inputting on the device and send that information to a different device. It typically gets used to gather credentials for websites or certain services within the company for example, a keylogger could be used to send the user’s log-in credentials to the hacker, who can then access the company’s confidential information.
Hardware device keyloggers that send the information to a Bluetooth device.
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Malicious pieces of software that can inject themselves into other programs that have been running on the system. This is all done without notifying the user. The most effective defense against viruses is generally to have the virus scanner updated with the latest signatures. Having an endpoint security solution in place is imperative to prevent malicious software from entering the system and causing damage.
Keep in mind that attackers will always improve their evasion methods, which is why Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) is becoming more popular than traditional antivirus. solutions are designed to detect and respond to malicious activity on a system. This is done by monitoring the system for suspicious behavior, such as new and unknown processes, network connections, and file changes. If any of these are detected, the EDR solution can alert the user, take action to contain the threat, or even block the malicious activity in real time.
According to Symantec, one of the leading antivirus vendors, globally, there are over 357 million strains of malicious code. There has been an increase in this trend since 2016, with some sources suggesting that it will continue. Every day, 200,000 distinct malware variants are discovered on the internet.
However, this does not mean that every computer user will be infected with malware. There are many steps that users can take to protect themselves, such as installing antivirus software and keeping it up to date, being careful about the email attachments they open, and not downloading software from untrustworthy sources.
Trojans are pieces of software that can disguise themselves as something else. Usually, they are highly obfuscated to prevent the virus scanners or the user from realizing it is a malicious piece of software that downloads more malicious software. To make matters worse, Trojans can also steal information or open backdoors to allow further malicious access to your computer or network. Additionally, Trojans can even spread out to other devices connected to your computer or network, potentially leading to even more profound consequences.
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Trojan horse (computing) – Wikipedia
A Botnet refers to a group of computers that are hijacked by an attacker, and he can remotely send commands to the systems to do what he wants. Botnets have been used to launch Distributed Denial of Service Attacks to prevent a service from being accessible or to mine crypto coins without the victims even knowing. An example of a botnet is the Mirai botnet which was an exceptionally large botnet of infected computers. Mirai was used to launch the 2016 Dyn cyberattack that resulted in major websites, such as Amazon and Twitter, becoming inaccessible for several hours.
Botnets are networks of computers that have been infected with malicious software and are controlled remotely by the attacker. They are used to launch attacks such as DDoS, which overwhelms a target with traffic, or to mine cryptocurrency without the owners of the computers being aware of it. The Mirai botnet was one of the largest and most powerful botnets ever created, and it was responsible for the Dyn attack in 2016 that caused major outages for websites around the world.
Explanation of a famous botnet of computers and that got abused to perform DDOS attacks
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Inside the infamous Mirai IoT Botnet: A Retrospective Analysis
Adware is not usually malicious software, but it will be able to affect the performance of your system and can be very frustrating to deal with from the user’s perspective. Adware is usually installed without the user’s knowledge and displays ads on the computer. It uses the computer’s resources to run ads and track the user’s online activity, which can slow down the computer and make it difficult to use. Adware is a type of software that automatically displays advertising content on a computer, often in the form of pop-up ads. It is usually installed without the user’s knowledge and can be difficult to remove. Adware can slow down a computer and make it difficult to use. For example, a computer infected with adware may experience pop-up ads, unresponsive programs, and sluggish internet speeds.
Usually just advertisement software that makes your pc slow
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This is a specially crafted tool that can remotely control a computer from another computer. These are usually used for legit purposes by system administrators or help desk personnel but could also be abused by the attackers to gain access to sensitive information. Example of some of these tools
TeamViewer and remote access tools get used a lot by threat actors to get access to the infrastructure
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