Cybersecurity is more a directive approach than a systematic, used by professionals to attend to their extensive security related issues within the digital world. There are various types of vulnerabilities professionals need to be prepared at all times to tackle properly, without a proper insight or dedicated approach to definite tools, systems or knowledge this can become not only difficult but quite hectic for them to keep systems secure from cyber criminals or hackers at bay. Even with the best of the security system or use of antivirus and other dedicated tools it is quite very difficult to achieve this scenario. For some of you who are tempted by the world of cyber security and want to serve it, the CISSP online course can be seen as an option to do just that.
Today we will be talking about something of the same and that is why we end up with attack vectors. You must be startled at its revelation, what is an attack vector? An attack vector is the path or specified means using which unauthorized people such as cyber criminals or hackers gain access to the security systems of a dedicated organization. The means of access can be temporary or permanent and might depend on multiple things or variations all at the same time. The access could be retrieved over to the network or computer systems or any other weak or timid entry point.
After gaining access the cyber criminals would actively deploy their payload or in simpler terms the prepared virus which are programmed to further exploit the security systems to the best advantages of the hackers. They usually exploit insights such as what kind of data lies buried within the deeply locked security intervals of a specific organization. They can also choose to install various types of malware which would start extracting the important user information such as their personal or financial information which is believed to be secure at all times by the compromised businesses.
Various notions of attack vectors
There is no specific form or shape to the attack vectors as it can arise in any particular form suggesting a need of urgency such as verifying a detail or putting in some kind of personal information among the dedicated fields. This can be a virus, malware, payload, pop-ups, social engineering or text messages even. You can never be so sure about the occurrence of the attack vectors and can only hope to prepare for the worst as one way or the other you are going to get tempted by these consistent efforts made by the cyber criminals and instantly pitch in to their offerings. No one solution is ever enough to control or counteract an attack vector, therefore you need a bunch of different technical systems to do the work for you.
You can either customize a dedicated software pack containing different elements working in their own timelines making sure that any such actions can be caught and then addressed on time. But on the other hand you are not willing to dive into the mess of piling up different software and tools, leaving behind the only option to include machine learning and threat intelligence related systems, as these are fully automatic and do not require any manual integration whatsoever.
Various common types of the attack vectors
There are various different types of attack vectors and each one of them is different from the rest because the technology keeps on updating and changing as we breathe along with the tactics used by the illicit cyber criminals. Under the light of latest updates and events, following is a list of attack vectors that are most commonly used and integrated by the hackers starting out as;
- Compromised credentials
Whenever you lose your credentials such as the username or passwords and do nothing to retrieve them back, they are lost for good. But cyber criminals using their illicit means can dig up those credentials and then after reactivating them can use against you. They can then gain access to all your personal effects which were secured by these credentials and cause a real havoc for you.
- Using weak credentials
Associated with the world of cybersecurity you must be aware of not to use the weak credentials as these are the easiest to crack open by the cyber criminals. Using a mix of different letters, symbols and other settings would help you to come by a relatively strong password or credentials that are not only hard to crack but also extremely disintegrated to be picked up by any breaking or algorithm thinking software or tool.
- Poor encryption tactics
Being a data oriented company and working your way with the cyber systems it is essential that you use the best and the most dedicated encryption systems there are. Using the poor encryption systems would not be the best bet for the sake of survival regarding your business. SSL certificates are the best encryption systems used by professionals to sustain the confidentiality of the data and eradicating any middle attacks which you seem to be prevailing by sharing assets with trusted vendors across different technical platforms of the same organization.
This way the chances of leaking corporate information within people that are not authorized or cleared to be trusted for such capacity will remain low, and everything would remain safe under the dedicated blanket of the encryption.
- Ransomware and Phishing
Ransomware is the most common of all the attack vendors used by the cyber criminals to gain access to the secured systems. They then encrypt everything in their way to demand for a ransom paid by the user over a dedicated time if user wants all of the effects to be reverted and delivered back to them.
On the other hand, Phishing attacks are used to play the trust game with the victim, trying to lure users into believing that the person standing next to them or communicating with them is genuine in order to retrieve all the information right away.
The CompTIA cybersecurity analyst certification would immensely help you to understand the working of the attack vectors and how you can neutralize them in best effect possible.