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In this blog post we will cover Cyber security threat and how to deal with it.

In the time of 1950s, Cyber word used to refer to Cybernetics – The technology of understanding the control and movement of machines and animals.  But today, the term is almost exclusively used to describe cyber security matters. Because it’s hard to visualize how digital signals traveling across a wire can represent a harmful digital attack, we’ve taken to visualizing the digital phenomenon as a physical one.

A cyber security threat is an attack that is mounted against us by means of cyberspace. Cyberspace, a virtual space in the digital device or system that doesn’t exist, has become the metaphor to help us understand digital weaponry that intends to harm us.

As noted the evolving threats to Canada’s cyber network, the government of Canada has outlined a robust plan to make top level security to address the risks to the Canadian government and its business owners from the cyber attacks, and cyber crime.

Most parts of Canada cyber security strategy are focused at protecting confidential information of government, business owners and critical infrastructure, but the plan does directly affect ordinary Canadians through a series of specific security measures designed to make Canadians more secure online. In particular, the government of Canada has concerned itself with what ordinary Canadians worry about most: the security of their sensitive personal and confidential business information.

The National Cyber Security strategy of Canada recognizes that each Canadian has a significant role to play in protecting themselves from becoming the victim of cyber threat. 

As such, much of the government’s initiative is aimed at Canadian centers for cyber security to educate citizens on the most critical cyber security practices, frequently changing key passwords, including keeping antivirus protection up-to-date and only using secured wireless networks. 

The government of Canada is also trying to increase general awareness of the types of cyber threats that common online crimes generally present.

Toronto Businesses at Risk from Cyber Security Threat

There are many risks from a cybersecurity threat. It is vital that information security is taken seriously within an organization’s information technology systems.

What are the risks of a cybersecurity threat?

1. Data Breach
2. Loss of Data
3. Internet of Things (IoT) 
4. Malware
5. Social Engineering
6. Hacking

The following are some of the cyber threats or risks that you should watch out for.

Data Breach:

Cloud data storage is very popular and rapidly increasing in popularity. Many businesses follow traditional methods of data storage and are transferring their data to the cloud. This leaves you vulnerable while you are backing up your data. It is possible that some systems can have unauthorized access to your information. Your cryptographic keys can be vulnerable during this process. There are also some transfer protocols that transmit sensitive data in plain text which is a significant vulnerability and not always obvious it exists. 

To mitigate the risks of a data breach, business owners need to be picky when it comes to choosing a cloud provider. Cloud security is an important part of protecting sensitive information such as intellectual property, credit card data and other important sensitive data that is at risk if a data breach were to occur.

Loss of Data:

Loss of data can be devastating to a business and it happens far too often. Sometimes important data may get lost due to many reasons. The reason behind loss of sensitive data may be through deletion, alteration and use of an unreliable, unsecure storage medium. 

Loss of data or a data breach can ruin the reputation of a business, cause a loss of customers, and drain your finances. 

Internet of Things Insecurities:

In this blog post we will cover

Internet of Things (IoT) technologies connects and networks devices across the world. They are perhaps the most vulnerable and prevalent type of cybersecurity threat in existence today. Many IoT devices are treated as “set and forget” when it comes to cybersecurity. They typically reside on a process network with default or admin-level credentials at the patching and firmware versions they were released with. 

This is a very vulnerable state and they are significant targets, representing a large part of the attack surface a potential hacker may try and exploit. Given the nature of IoT devices, they are usually not considered as directly connected to the internet and usually don’t use protocols and interfaces people are familiar with and consider as the “internet”

Malware/Ransomware Attack:

A malware attack refers to the activity when cybercriminals create malicious software that’s installed on the owner’s device or system without their knowledge to gain access to personal information or to damage the system, usually for financial gain. There are many causes of malware attacks from cyber criminals. 

Some common reasons are behind the malware attacks, the use of many free software programs, removable media, and not having an internet security software program in place. To prevent this, Software updates are important because they repair security holes that have been discovered on a regular basis, and fix or remove computer bugs.

Social Engineering or the Human Factor:

Whether with intent or without malice, people are the biggest threat to cybersecurity. Most of the businesses continue to face insider threats as a major form of cybersecurity breaches. The users in organizations are the weakest link.

This can be due to a lack of cybersecurity awareness — such as using easy-to-guess passwords or falling for phishing emails.

Social engineering is a very real problem. It is the practice of using human nature and tricking people either directly or to circumvent security systems.

The best solution for this problem is training staff on cybersecurity measures, monitoring their activities, and testing. 

Hacking:

Hacking is a general umbrella term. Most hacks are multifaceted and not as direct as people imagine. Sharing or leaking of seemingly benign information can lead to a privilege escalation that forms the basis for a broader more substantial hack. Many hacks are automated, at least on initial attack surface probing. 

Conclusion: IT support services in Toronto are providing accurate and timely threat intelligence, thought leadership and education on cyber security. We hope this article helped you understand more about the Risk from Cyber Security Threat and solutions that are available.

Are you concerned that your business is not secure from the cyber attacks? Our expert at Eyes Everywhere, have experience in analyzing and implementing robust security plans, from prevention all the way to mitigation, to protect our client’s critical information. Contact us Eyes Everywhere today to secure your systems and reduce your risk from cyber security threat.