Brief Introduction
Since the dawn of COVID-19 with the rapid escalation of cases leading to the compromise of our human immunity so too has the effects of cyber-attacks exploiting attack surfaces worldwide. A valuable lesson that we all should learn based on the attack telemetry is that no matter how big your company is or how small your company is you will never be left alone.
In South Africa from the Liberty email hack to our Durban, Port Terminals at Transnet, no one is safe with the rapid inclination into the technological era many businesses and government entities are embracing change.
The question that every business owner should ask is " Are we next? " yes it is great having network security in place, but if your network security allows maliciously crafted payloads to pass via the HTTPS route which is destined for the endpoint being your servers and workstations then you are in for a fileless, living off the land surprise.
Cyber Attacks target IT Infrastructure devices and if you do not have the right endpoint solution to stop attacks and data exfiltration at machine speed which is quantified at "Millions of Instructions Per Second - MIPS "then your business or government agency is going to have a taste of what a ransom note feels like when you cannot recover sensitive data and intellectual property.
We do not hold the illustrious cyber security certifications such as CISSP, CISA, CEH, ICS2, ISACA etc but we have come a long way with serious time investment in developing ourselves using various credible platforms out there. We do however wish to pursue the CISSP and CISM in the foreseeable future. We respect everyone in the industry and only wish to enable a secure South Africa for all of our people and businesses.
With the digital era progressing at the speed of a 5G internet connection, cybercriminals are enhancing some of their old tricks of the illicit trade, and the rise of lucrative dark businesses such as Ransomware as a Service (RaaS), Fileless Attacks, Living off the land attacks (LotL) and others to help boost their black hat arsenal.
I can confidently say that there's not going to be any depreciation in cyber attacks, but rather a resurgence over and over again, even if our governments crack the whip by working with other international organisations in the grips of continual cyber-attacks.
So you may be an adopter of using free IT Security Solutions out there such as Avast Free, Panda Dome Free, Kaspersky Anti-Ransom Tool for Business etc, however, investing in proven IT Security Solutions such as EPP, EDR and XDR will definitely provide your business or government agency with a huge return on investment of not falling prey to data breaches and exfiltration.
Some of the leading cyber trends targeting businesses and government are:
- Malware;
- Phishing and Spear-Phishing Attacks;
- Ransomware;
- Account Take Over or Credential Abuse Attacks;
- Denial of Service Attacks (DoS/DDoS);
- Web Application Attacks;
- Secure Socket Layer Encrypted Cyber Threats;
- Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs);
- Targeted Attacks;
- Insider Threats;
- Zero-Day Attacks;
- Predications going forward:
- COVID-19 Pandemic Related Phishing Attacks;
- Ransomware Attacks;
- Elevation in Business Email Compromise (BEC) Attacks;
- Smart Technology Malware Attacks;
- Rise in Cyberactivism Attacks;
- Artificial Intelligence Targeted Cyber Attacks;
- Internet of Things Targeted Cyber Attacks;
- Supply Chain Attacks;
- Data Breaches / Exfiltration;
- Cryptojacking;
- Targeted Cyber Attacks;
- Cyber Attacks on Encrypted Communication Platforms;
- Block-Chain Cyber Attacks;
- Denial of Service Cyber Attacks;
- End of Life Software Attacks
- Open Source Vulnerability Attacks;
- Social Engineering Attacks;
- Remote Desktop Protocol Attacks;
Concluding Remarks:
Cybercrime presents business and government agencies with the trickiest types of criminals to deal with. Armed with ultra-sophisticated tools of the dark trade, they are becoming bolder every day, threatening businesses of all sizes. Bigger companies have more on IT Security budgets to invest in more advanced security tools to defend, protect and remediate against cyber threats, but small businesses are not always so lucky. Thus, awareness and vigilance at all times can assist in preventing these cyberattacks from impairing your business, and it is definitely helpful to know what IT security solutions are perfect to protect your business or government agency.
I would like to invite you to test-drive our cyber security products as we are not a cyber shark looking to compromise your freedom of choice, but rather demonstrate what the best cyber security solutions look like together with tailoring a solution to fit your budget together with our complimentary security awareness training to bolster your business or government agencies culture of security as your employees are the first line of defence and it is all about that phishing email, to Click Click or not to Click.
Disclaimer: This initiative is purely for educational purposes and does not constitute express advice in the cyber solution landscape and I personally disclaim myself from liability based on any reliance on the information in this article and its contents, irrespective of the merit it carries. Effectualness (Pty) Ltd is an authorised partner representing the cyber solutions mentioned in this article.
Avishkar Singh (2021) | Director | Effectualness (Pty) Ltd