Cyberattacks are becoming increasingly common, and managed services providers in Milwaukee are doing their best to protect their clients from such attacks. However, many businesses are still falling victim to these attacks. A financial manager may receive an email that’s apparently from an executive with instructions to make payments only to realize that it is a fraud after the money is already paid.
How Do These Attacks Work?
These are some of the major types of cyberattacks:
Phishing
Phishing is where a malicious hacker tricks a victim into trusting them and, as a result, providing them with certain information or carrying out a certain action as instructed by the cybercriminal. Phishing comes in three major types namely:
- General phishing – This is where a hacker casts a wide net by sending an email, hoping that many people will click and install the link or download the attachment.
- Spear phishing – Spear phishing targets an individual whom the attacker knows something about. An attacker can get information about you from social media and draft an email that matches your specifics. It could be a fake email from your child’s school or employer, and the result is that you end up giving out information that leaves you compromised.
- Whaling – This is a more advanced type of phishing where the hacker goes for a bigger target, such as the CEO as opposed to mere employees. He or she will gather enough info about the CEO, then launch an attack on the company.
Ransomware and Malware
Malware is malicious software that is delivered as an attachment in a phishing email, downloads, or spam websites. Ransomware, on the other hand, is malware that requires the cooperation of the user by either downloading a file, clicking on a link, activating macros or opening an attachment. Legitimate websites can also be used to serve ransomware.
Distributed Denial of Service
This attack disrupts the use of the internet or a certain service by a user by flooding it with excessive traffic or many login attempts. Malware and ransomware are still applied in DDoS.
Security Measures
Managed services providers in Milwaukee acknowledge that cybercrime is not about to end anytime soon. The risks keep intensifying. The most effective solution, for now, is using layered security. In addition, it is important to stay up-to-date on patching. As for malware and ransomware attacks, the best solution is data backup, so you will not need to pay a ransom.
It is important to partner with a managed services provider in Milwaukee, such as Risetech Partners, for more insight into cyberattacks. Contact us today to learn how to evade these cyberattacks.