Targeted Attacks and the Value of Proactive Defense

Cyberattacks are becoming more frequent and more sophisticated. There are many types of attacks and many ways to infiltrate your organization. Targeted attacks aimed at your company can lead to significant losses of money, information, and customers. Preventing attacks is far more cost-effective than having to recover from those losses.

What are targeted attacks?

A targeted attack is a cyberattack aimed at your company. Attackers devote a great deal of time and effort to setting up and carrying out the attack. Targeted attacks generally aim to infiltrate a specific organization and steal its information. There are many types of cyberattacks, and targeted attacks are just one of the kinds you can fall victim to.

Hacktivism, the name given to hacking attacks tied to activism, differs from a targeted attack in that hacktivism rarely results in network infiltration or information theft. These attacks are meant to be seen, unlike targeted attacks designed to stay undetected for as long as possible. Their purpose is to promote political or social change.

A cybercrime operation generally focuses more on acquiring financial data than information. These attacks don't target a single person or organization; the goal is to create as many victims as possible in a short period of time. For this reason, attackers will likely abandon the attack if adequate security is in place, in favor of easier targets to exploit.

There are many different reasons for an attack, and each one has different methods and intentions. Targeted attacks are attacks meant to victimize you and steal your information while remaining undetected. These attackers are more likely to invest a lot of time in infiltration and the attack to ensure success.

What are the odds of an attack?

Cyberattacks are on the rise, and it's more than likely that you'll be a victim. In fact, in 2018, 54% of companies experienced at least one successful attack that compromised their data or IT infrastructure (https://blog.barkly.com/2018-cybersecurity-statistics). Since targeted attacks focus on you, attackers are more likely to adapt, customize, and refine their attack methods to find a way into your network.

There are many ways to infiltrate your company, which makes the attackers' job easier. Attacks generally begin with an information-gathering phase, during which attackers collect information about your IT environment and your company structure. They may try to find out what software you use and the roles of people within your company. This phase often starts with public information about your company, available online.

Hackers will vary their point of entry based on where your company's security is weakest. Spear phishing and watering holes are common entry methods. They turn your own employees against you by tricking them into clicking links or installing malware that gives attackers access to your system.

Phishing attacks are very often sent to masses of people, sending an email that appears to come from a legitimate organization, with the goal of getting people to click a link and disclose personal information or download malware. Spear phishing, on the other hand, is tailored to target specific people, with personalized messages that resemble the ones they normally send. They often involve personal information to make the emails look more legitimate; this also makes them much harder for users to identify as an attack.

In a watering-hole attack, attackers look for opportunities to infect websites frequently visited by people in your organization. First, attackers will build a profile of individuals to determine which websites they visit. Then, attackers will look for a way to compromise those websites and infect your employees with malware on their next visit to the site.

There are many methods to infiltrate your network and access your information. New forms of attack are being created and refined all the time. To stay secure, you need an IT team that is fully on top of current security risks. If you aren't protected, or if you don't have the right security measures in place to prevent multiple attack methods, a targeted attack on your company could cripple or destroy your business, costing you money, information, and customers.

What are the consequences of an attack?

One of the most obvious consequences of a cyberattack is a loss of money. During an attack, you may not be able to conduct business or process transactions. Dealing with the aftermath of a security breach is often costly; repairing all the damage and affected systems and implementing security measures to prevent further infiltration is an expensive undertaking.

Targeted attacks steal your information. Attackers could reveal company secrets to your competitors. Think about all the information you have on your devices. Company information, financial information, and customer information are all at risk. In 2014, 47,000 Playstation employees had their personal information and emails leaked.

Customers trust you with their information and expect you to keep it safe. When you suffer a data breach, you lose that trust, along with your customers, partners, suppliers, investors, and other third parties. In 2013, Adobe suffered a massive cyberattack involving 150 million accounts. In 2011, 77 million Playstation users had their personal data leaked. Falling victim to a targeted attack can affect your relationship with anyone involved in your business and, if you suffer a large enough loss, may jeopardize your ability to continue operating.

What can you put in place to mitigate attacks?

It's far easier to plan for an attack and prevent it proactively than to wait until an attack is discovered and try to repair the damage caused. With the odds of an attack being high, implementing security measures to protect your company is a far more economical choice.

Think of proactive defense as similar to insurance. With insurance, you pay a small amount each month to protect yourself from danger. By subscribing to a proactive defense service, you're protected against the loss of your valuable data.

Having a preventive maintenance program and a proactive monitoring service is essential to cybersecurity. Stop attacks before they can even start with a managed security service such as MMO Techno; we use a proactive defense system and an IT team that will create a security plan tailored to your company.

To conclude…

Targeted attacks aim to steal information from your organization by exploiting your security weaknesses and customizing attacks to infiltrate your network. Leaving your company open to attacks is an enormous risk, both to your finances and to your reputation. Before you become the victim of an attack, put in place a security plan that will help protect you and your business.