A ransomware attack is one of the main threats that affects both home and business users. Ransomware can affect your capital and reputation with a temporary or permanent loss of data and information. It’s significant to protect your assets against ransomware attacks before it’s too late to prevent potential harmful consequences.
Ransomware attacks have received quite a bit of media coverage lately. You may have heard several stories of attacks on large companies, organizations, and government agencies, or you may know individuals whose unique devices and data were targeted in a ransomware attack. For more information about ransomware, please continue reading our article.
How Shall You Act If Your Systems Are Locked Due to Ransomware?
Once your computer is locked, the ransomware infection can be removed with a fully up-to-date antivirus program. However, the main difficulty is usually accessing the infected computer and locking it. Fortunately, this can be resolved by booting from a different source such as Windows Safe Mode, alternative boot methods such as Command Prompt, various hard drive partitions, or an external memory device.
What Are The Typical Ransom Fees?
Ransom fees differ in ransomware attacks. But in general, the ransom amount can be between 150-500 dollars for an individual person. It can also be worth thousands of dollars to an organization.
How to Handle The Ransom Payment?
When organizations pay the ransom, attackers use a decryption tool and may not release the stolen data. Also, this payment does not guarantee that all data will be restored. The following list contains the possible results of paying for a ransomware:
On average, only 65% of data is recovered, and only 8% of organizations manage to recover all data.
Encrypted files are generally unrecoverable. Attacker-supplied decryptors may crash or fail. You may need to create a new decryption tool by extracting the keys from the device provided by the attacker.
Recovering data can take several weeks, especially if most of it is encrypted.
There is no guarantee that hackers will delete the stolen data. A person may sell or disclose the information later if it has value.
Can You Trust The Hacker to Act Ethically After Receiving The Ransom?
Ransomware is lucrative for cybercriminals. This cybercrime puts every organization that uses the technology at risk. In most cases, paying the ransom is easier and cheaper than recovering from a backup. But supporting the attackers’ business model can only lead to more ransomware. It is generally recommended not to pay the seedling. In some cases, paying the ransom may even be illegal as it provides financing for criminal activity.
You should contact a professional incident response team, and regulatory agencies before meeting with attackers. This way, you can avoid this scam.
As Bugbounter, we have established an ecosystem of experts so that you can always be prepared for preventing cyber threats. Our platform connects a network of ethical hackers and security researchers with organizations, enabling security teams to test their risks under any circumstances. Please do not hesitate to contact us to benefit from our services.
Today, we perform almost all of our transactions on digital platforms. Even if we do not take any action, we use digital platforms or applications to spend time, have fun or chat with someone close to us. On these platforms, we often have to register and enter our personal information. In the face of such a situation, there are always many internet attackers standing by. These people try to access personal information or accounts by catching security vulnerabilities in these platforms or applications.
Institutions, businesses, companies, and individuals try to take the necessary precautions to protect their information and avoid material damage. Before these measures are taken, the company or service provider wants to detect security vulnerabilities in its platform. For this, the company takes help from experts. These experts detect and report security vulnerabilities in the application or page with Security Tests. On the other hand, Bug bounty hunters or Security Testers gain in this process and benefit the other party.
What Is Security Testing? How To Do Security Testing?
Security Test is a type of Software Test that reveals the vulnerabilities of the system and protects the data and resources of the system from possible internet attackers/hackers. Security Testing aims to prevent the loss of software systems, applications, and websites. It enables to foresee and repair of possible dangers. The security test of any system detects all security vulnerabilities of the system that may cause loss of information, the reputation of the organization or material damage. Emerging security vulnerabilities are reported and repaired before they are announced to the public to be fixed.
Why Is Security Testing Important?
Security tests are very important. Security tests don’t just find vulnerabilities. It also allows us to detect any additional action that can be taken on the system, web page or application when it is hijacked. With security tests, when a vulnerability is found, the application or page has the opportunity to be repaired before it is put into service. Since security tests have very well-equipped and advanced software, the domain is also quite large. Recently, it has become mandatory for most pages and applications. You can prevent financial losses with security tests.
Types Of Security Testing
Security Tests are created to identify threats in the system, measure potential security vulnerabilities of the system, help detect all possible security risks in the system, and help developers solve security problems through coding. There are different types of Security Tests. Each security test has basic principles such as confidentiality and integrity. The Security Test types are the following:
Vulnerability Scanning
Security Scanning
Penetration Test
Risk Assessment
Security Auditing
Ethical Hacking
Posture Assessment
What Is Security Testers Job Description? What Do Security Testers Do?
The Security Testers are responsible for finding security vulnerabilities in a network, application or web page, detecting and reporting actions that can be taken when it is seized by the attackers. When they detect security vulnerabilities, they can provide solutions. Since these people are experts in software and coding, they can see all kinds of security vulnerabilities.
As Bugbounter, we aim to provide you with the best service. Follow us to learn more about Security Tests and to benefit from our current services.
There are many types of cyber security certifications. The main purpose of cyber security certification is to demonstrate that you are competent to use specific tools and technologies. In addition, more experienced people and networking professionals also seek certification to validate their skills.
Like other areas of information technology, cyber security certifications play a significant role in the hiring process within the field of cyber security. You can continue reading our article to learn why you need certificates in cyber security and to get some information about their benefits.
Why do you need a certification?
Due to the increase in cyber threats, cyber security experts are needed. Obtaining a cyber security certification sets you apart from ordinary cyber security professionals as it validates your skills and demonstrates that you are fully trained and equipped for the certification you hold.
There are several advantages of cyber security certificates. A cyber security degree will only be useful if it demonstrates your level of competence and commitment to the job. In other words, it would be misleading to have the certificate and not the knowledge. A cyber security certificate demonstrates your commitment, experience, and competence in a particular field.
Top 5-10 cyber security certification programs
CompTIA Security+ is the first security certification that IT professionals must acquire. This certification program covers the basics required for any cyber security profession. It also helps you to access intermediate cyber security positions. There are many certificate programs available. These programs are as follows:
1.CompTIA Security+
Security+ is a beginner-level cyber security certificate. It assesses your ability to set up and maintain security systems, minimize risks, and respond to security breaches.
There are no formal criteria for taking the exam. CompTIA requires candidates to have several years of IT security management experience along with Network+ credentials.
2.Microsoft (MTA) Security Fundamentals
One of the “entry-level” cyber security certifications is MTA Security Fundamentals. MTA Security Fundamentals aims to understand the security fundamentals, network fundamentals, and software security. It is suitable for high school and college students as well as individuals in the workforce looking to develop their skills.
3.System Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP)
The SSCP is an entry-level certification from ISC2. The main focus of this document is on IT infrastructure security. Mostly recommended for system administrators, security analysts, network security engineers, database administrators, and professionals alike.
4.Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP)
To have a CCSP certificate, you must have five years of relevant experience. Internships (paid and unpaid) and part-time jobs are also viable options.
5.Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP)
Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP) primarily deals with penetration testing. Network administrators, and other security professionals can be supported by OSCP to demonstrate their understanding of hacking techniques and tools.
You do not need to have any previous work experience. However, completing the PEN-200 training course offered by Offensive Security is a basic requirement.
Which certificates would you need to become a bug bounty expert?
There are various certifications in the field of cyber security. The certifications you need to obtain to become a bug bounty expert are as follows:
CISSP
CISA
CISM
Security+
CEH
GSEC
SSCP
CASP
GCIH
OSCP
As Bugbounter, we have established an ecosystem of experts so that you can always be prepared for preventing cyber threats. Our platform connects a network of ethical hackers and security researchers with organizations, enabling security teams to test their risks under any circumstances. Please do not hesitate to contact us to benefit from our services.
August 2022 has been an eventful month as the concept of cybersecurity took new turns in the digital world. Keeping oneself updated about cybersecurity threats via cybersecurity news is integral for enterprises to take the required security measures to protect their data and ensure privacy over sensitive information.
Everyone who runs a business should have at least the required knowledge about cyber security protocols so that they do not cause any harm to others’ right to privacy and can be prepared well against cyber attacks. Here are some of BugBounter’s recap of August 2022 highlights of cyber security.
In a recent cyber attack, Iran-based hackers exploit unpatched systems running log4j to target Israeli entities, indicating severe vulnerabilities. The hackers used SysAid server instances to enter the logging framework Log4J shell. VMware applications have been leveraged to breach target environments. The leading tech-giant Microsoft observed that by gaining access to the logging framework, personalized and popular hacking tools were used to move laterally within the network of target organizations by making cyber attacks on the hands-on-keyboard attacks without credentials. The internal intelligence team of Microsoft also observed that the attacks were staged between July 23 and 25, 2022.
The Estonian government has repelled a wave of cyberattacks that came with the DDoS attacks following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This move came after the government had opted to remove soviet monuments in a plane inhabited by the Russian majority. A Russian cybercrime group Killnet has reportedly claimed responsibility for the DDoS attacks against a few websites of public and private sector organizations which were ineffective. Though the cyberattack was extensive, like that of 2007, it went largely unnoticed and caused little to no damage to the Estonian government. Except for some brief disruptions, the services were not disrupted and remained fully available throughout the day.
One of the critical hack news! Atlassian’s security response team has been notified with an urgent warning about a severe security vulnerability in several API points in its bitbucket server. Though the Atlassian cloud repositories were not affected by the issue, it was a brutal hit on the Australian company’s product software. The Atlassian observed that as the vulnerability score is high, it could be further exploited to roll out code injection attacks remotely. A hacker with an entry or read permission to a public or private bitbucket repository will be able to hack the system by sending a harmful HTTP request. All versions released after 6.10.17 were infected and exploited because of their vulnerability.
Password management service LastPass confirmed one of the cyber security attacks was a threat to the specific source code and technical information. The security breach occurred around the middle of August, targeting the software development environment. Customer data or encrypted passwords were not compromised, Although the company did not reveal anything regarding the cyber security challenges. Lastpass CEO Karim Toubab revealed that an unauthorized party accessed certain sections of the Lastpass developer system through one developer account from which the source code and proprietary technical information were stolen. Amidst identifying the cyber security risks, the company said it had hired leading cybersecurity and forensics firms to take measures against cyber security attacks and mitigate them.
Malware reaches suitable targets as a North Korean hacking group named Kimsuky demonstrates its capability of staging cyber attacks. Targeting large companies and high-profile individuals from the Korean peninsula, Kimsuky uses phishing emails to connect with the control and command server before a malicious payload is downloaded by the user. Politicians, university research professors, and journalists in North and South Korea are targeted for retrieving sensitive information from their systems. The system and network are not infected if the victim is not on the targeted list.
Hackers used Deepfake technology to create fake copies of the Finance official application, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange with a massive daily trading volume. The Binance has become a popular target for hackers even with several layers of security protocols they must navigate.
Attackers gained access to the active directory and confidential data such as user logins and passwords for moving within the application. CCO Patrick Hillmann revealed that he received online messages from several users and traders who thanked him for online meets and sharing information on potential opportunities to list users’ assets on the Binance application, which he did not initiate. Attackers had utilized AI technology to impersonate Hillmann using his previous appearances in news interviews and TV shows.
Cyber attackers associated with Trickbot, Bazarloader, and IcedID malware deploy the Bumblebee loader to break into target networks and for subsequent activities related to cyber threats. The Google threat analysis group discovered the ransomware in March 2022. The Cybereason global security operations center (Gsoc) Team identified the recent ransomware deployment and warned about the Bumblebee loaders. After infecting a system, the Bumblebee operators disrupt the reconnaissance activities by rerouting the executed command outputs to source files to exfiltrate data. The information in the active directory is leveraged to access confidential data such as user logins and passwords to move within the network laterally.
Cyber Security Measures: BugBounter
The increasing cyber security concern is one reason every organization should take necessary steps before they face permanent damage with cyber security attacks that can lead to years of effort in building their businesses in vain. BugBounter offers bug bounty services, including bug bounty programs and enhanced data management and privacy. With a team of 2700+ cybersecurity experts, bug bounty thrives on providing its customers with what works best for them. They are available 24/7 to provide customized tests to help you mitigate risks. Contact us to know more about our services at the best prices!
Over 50% of SMEs are hacked every year. Many of them have no or basic cyber protection.
As technology has been developing, people’s dependence and reliance on it is arising day by day, and as this happens, a new concept emerges: being cyber smart. We share our daily life on different platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Sharing our lives and connecting with people has become an indispensable part of our lives. And with technology being a decisive part of companies being cyber smart is something everyone should do.
What does “Cyber Smart” mean?
Being Cyber Smart means being aware of the motivations and tactics of those who would attack your device’s security and adopting measures to protect yourself and the systems you are responsible for. It’s paramount to know the capabilities of the attackers you are defending against and think like the attacker as much as possible.
Dark Side of Technology
With the starting of the pandemic, whole world started living their both personal and professional lives online. This significant change made cyber smart even more important as people started sharing more delicate data through online systems due to COVID-19.
Why Being Cyber Smart is Important?
Most of us have a presence on social networks, even if it’s for business or personal use. Thus, we exchange large amounts of data every day and a cyber attack can penetrate into our system in no time. That means, we need to get cyber smart enough to protect our digital assets. To not jeopardize the security of your accounts and confidentiality of your sensitive files, everyone needs to be cyber smart. Don’t forget that it never hurts to have security software at your disposal. They can protect you while you are browsing, and we should also note that there are a good number of security software options to choose from.
What to do to be Cyber Smart?
First of all, remember to use a strong password! It should include numbers and special characters and not be too short and guessable. Additionally, you should use a different password for every single account you have. But having a strong password is not enough for your cyber security. To prevent your account from being accessed by cybercriminals, you should enable multi-factor authentication, which is also known as two-factor authentication (2FA). Enabling multi-factor authentication will allow you to use multiple types of credentials before logging into your account, like confirming access through your mobile phone. A cyber smart person thinks carefully before clicking on links or opening an attachment. Remember to keep your devices, browsers, and apps up to date. Protect your security by deleting sensitive information if you no longer need it, and if you see something questionable, do not hesitate to report it! If you are downloading a program or application, check the security and privacy features to know what can access your data or documents.
As an essential part of our everyday and business lives, technology has a significant role in making almost everything much easier for us. Yet, we must remember that it also has a darker side, threatening our lives. Therefore, it is crucial to consider “being cyber smart” and learn how to apply it. Click here to take the first step for being cyber smart!
How to start being cyber smart:
Use strong password!
Enable Multi Factor Authentication
Inspect your system to more than 1800 independent cyber security
Stronger cyber resilience is essential for an organization’s capacity to respond effectively to a cyber attack and bounce back from the attack’s impacts with no or very little damage. Because traditional security measures are insufficient to guarantee sufficient cybersecurity, information security, and IT security, cyber resilience is crucial. The objective is to ensure that, following a cyber attack, the organization can do business as soon as possible. The blog will give cyber awareness and assist you. You will learn why it is essential for companies to achieve cyber resilience and develop a solid cyber-resilience strategy.
How Can a Company Build a Stronger Cyber Resilience?
To quickly respond to and recoup cyber threats, a business needs to develop cybersecurity awareness and resilience. Businesses face cyber risks. This is due to the increasingly complex and sophisticated techniques that target organizations. They cause a massive increase in ethical hacking on a global scale.
Identify your assets
When interacting with a business, a retail customer expects a seamless experience in all areas. These consist of shopping, ordering, payment, assurance, and customer support. The same is true for professional services like medical services and advanced technologies. Business systems need to be highly interconnected to meet these expectations. It’s crucial to understand how things relate to one another and which processes are vital. Leading companies like Amazon, Flipkart, and many other eCommerce companies use automated systems to keep track of all processes. That way, they can identify which assets or systems to isolate during a disruption.
Internet security and email filtering
According to reports, over 90% of attacks on organizations begin with a malicious email. Relying solely on built-in security could expose your company to cyber criminals or an ethical hacker.
Malicious links and files are the main methods of introducing malware into organizations’ systems for hacking, password theft, and eventual access to vital systems. The first defense against cyber attacks related to email or web browsing or ethical hackers is web and email filtering. Many potentially dangerous security breaches can be stopped at the outset. This is possible by incorporating email security and web filtering technologies.
Analyze and test backups
Consistently test and update the cyber-resilience policies governing mission-critical company assets and operations. According to modifications in company operations and the outcomes of exercises, update plans and procedures. Patch software and software applications whenever the latest changes or patches seem available.
Be sure to regularly update about the importance of senior management on the organization’s cyber defense. Backups must be reliable, secure, and accessible to guarantee business resilience. Regular testing is vital to ensure the data’s availability and integrity. Tested backups give the company more confidence in the data that has been backed up. This is because mistakes or setbacks in the backup process can be detected and quickly fixed.
Make a recovery plan
How many interruptions can your business handle without compromising its ability to serve customers? A quick recovery time might be costly, but a relatively long one might result in an extended outage that is bad for business. The best course of action for your business is to create or purchase recovery and backup solutions. These can let you keep updated backups. They must be easy to access and resistant to malware that destroys or corrupts backups. Each time your environment changes, or every three months, test your disaster recovery plan.
Your company can continue to operate with few interruptions with the aid of a well-tested and repeatable response-and-recovery plan.
How Does Stronger Cyber Resilience Keep Companies Secure and Safeguard Their Data?
It aids you to be always be one step ahead
The best defense is prevention; advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies are used to implement cyber resilience systems that can help detect suspicious activity before it becomes a serious threat. By updating detection procedures, keeping an eye on logs, and becoming acquainted with typical data flows, you’ll be able to spot any irregularities right away. You should be able to assess a breach’s impact in addition to its presence with the proper monitoring.
You’ll be prepared for emergencies
As you strengthen your defenses, you’ll stop hackers from erasing valuable data and writing malicious data. Whenever it comes to safeguarding your data, there is no room for error.
You must continuously test and improve your cybersecurity and data protection measures to keep up with them and beat them. By putting cyber defense strategies into practice, you’ll be able to comprehend best practices and update plans frequently. Following a successful or unsuccessful attack, it will be simple to cope. It will make you prepared to make sure you are ready for the next response.
Other benefits:
A robust and reliable cyber resilience plan tailored to the needs of a business can assist you in recovering from hacking. One that is supported by a comprehensive plan and realistic risk assessments and has many advantages.
Decreased financial losses and downtime
Faster time for recovery
Increased client loyalty and confidence
Improved brand recognition
You must analyze your company, establish business goals, create a plan, and then update it as necessary to reap these benefits.
How Can BugBounter’s Bug Bounty Support You Build a Stronger Cyber Resilience?
Implementing the aforementioned suggested controls will enable an organization to prevent most cyber attacks. They also help the company respond to attacks in a way that lessens their impact. They’ll feel more confident in their capacity for cyber resilience and will be more equipped to protect themselves. Cyber resiliency is no longer optional, considering the current cyber landscape and the growing threat to every organization; it has become a basic standard.
The best blockchain-based bug bounty platform, BugBounter offers businesses 24/7 accessibility, flexible scoping, and more than 3000 cyber security experts. Publishing a bug bounty helps you keep your cyber resilience strong. Without a valid bug being reported by the cybersecurity expert, there is a guaranteed ROI, and no fees are allocated. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to a cybersecurity strategy. Even organizations that work in the same sector will have different requirements.Contact BugBounter today so we can determine what works best for you.
Cyber security in retail and eCommerce industries offers today’s most common attack surfaces. They provide massive amounts of valuable financial and personal information to hackers. As online merchants incorporate more cutting-edge technologies into their websites to remain competitive, cybercriminals also hone their techniques. Further, the cost of a breach can be extremely harmful to organizations of all sizes. There are costs regarding the erosion of client trust and the loss of data. With the increase in digital transformation and fast devops processes, protecting your online store and customers from exploitation is more difficult in retail and eCommerce industries.
This blog will assist you in better understanding how to keep up with the latest developments in retail/eCommerce security and possible threats.
Who Can Be the Target?
There are many different types of retail and eCommerce companies that cyber security breaches can impact. For example, online stores are particularly susceptible to attacks that seek to steal customer data. Credit card information is highly targeted. In either case, the consequences of a breach can be significant, ranging from financial losses to damage to the company’s reputation.
A hacker group has recently broken into at least 570 e-commerce stores in 55 countries in the last three years, leaking information on more than 184,000 stolen credit cards and generating over $7 million from selling compromised payment cards. The consequences are indeed severe. All retail and eCommerce companies need proactive cyber security testing to protect themselves from potential attacks.
What Are the Cyber Security Risks and Threats a Retail or eCommerce Company Faces in the Event of Not Prioritizing Cyber Security?
Credit card details, personal identification numbers, and even sensitive organizational data—including that of governments—are being stolen from online databases by hackers. Data storage on the Internet is hard to keep secure. The risk is significantly greater for enterprises engaged in eCommerce. The foundation of the entire retail or eCommerce company strategy is a trust that can go wrong without a proper cyber security testing strategy.
This could potentially lead to the following outcomes:
Disruption of operations
Companies frequently incur indirect costs from cyber risks and direct financial losses, such as the potential for a significant interruption in business operations and associated revenue loss. Cyber threats can restrict a company’s regular operations in various ways. Your web server may be hacked with malware that deletes valuable data. Hackers may upload a harmful script to a server so users become a victim while shopping on the site.
Reputational harm
Trust is a crucial component of a client relationship in the retail industry. Cyberattacks can damage your business’s reputation and undermine customer confidence. It may also influence your suppliers and impair your relationships with partners and investors. This results in unexpected customer churn.
Legal implications of a cyberattack
Data protection and privacy regulations (GDPR) mandate that you maintain the safety of every personal data you have, whether it relates to your clients or your employees. You could be subject to penalties and regulatory punishment if personal data is unintentionally or purposefully compromised. There are cases of CISOs under investigations by the legal authorities.
Availability of services
Malware attacks can harm an organization’s eCommerce website. Hackers that commit denial of service reduce the functionality of an online store by preventing authorized users from accessing it. Imagine the loss of revenue during special dates such as black Friday.
Defending Retail and eCommerce Companies From Present and Future Cyber Attacks
When operating an online retail business, you must be cautious while handling your customers’ personal information. If your cyber security systems are compromised, you risk losing sensitive information about your clients. And that can cost your company the credibility and goodwill you’ve worked hard to establish.
Businesses must ensure that their IT teams establish a secure environment using the right guidelines.
Follow these instructions to increase the cyber security of your eCommerce marketplace:
Firewalls or other network security devices
You must secure the endpoint devices used by remote employees. The most open to assault are unprotected endpoint devices.
Establish and carry out an ongoing reliable cyber security awareness program
The program needs to be engaging enough to keep the staff interested. Primary concerns in this program should be adopting good cyber hygiene habits and detecting harmful communications.
Achieve compliance
With cyber threats’ rising and ever-evolving nature, authorities emphasize a company’s ability to recognize, mitigate, and respond to security issues. Retailers are under additional pressure than ever to safeguard customer information and abide by the law.
Auditing your system and processes
Web application attacks are one of the most severe threats to online stores. Hackers can access corporate backend databases by taking advantage of flaws in mission-critical business programs. Web apps and mobile apps are both easy targets for hackers. Your logistics, shipping, payment, customer data, and other crucial information may be affected or lost.
An efficient approach for handling cyber security incidents can assist you after an attack by:
Lessening the attack’s impact
Notifying the appropriate authority about the occurrence
Filing a cybercrime report
Reclaiming the compromised systems
Getting your company up and operating as soon as you can
Lastly, keep moving forward in your attempts to protect your eCommerce company. Consider and practice all the options for safeguarding your company and clients against online threats. As a result, your eCommerce company can lower the likelihood of data breaches over time.
How Can BugBounter’s Bug Bounty Solution Help Retail and eCommerce Companies Before Being Attacked?
The importance of cyber security to your eCommerce firm cannot be emphasized enough. ECommerce enterprises must develop a detailed offensive strategy. You must carry out constant cyber security testing because organized criminal hackers are growing experts at their games day by day.
BugBounter’s ecosystem contains thousands of global cyber security researchers and ethical hacking experts who have interest in various attack surfaces and vulnerability types. The blockchain-based bug bounty platform of BugBounter offers businesses access to new talent by refreshing the pool of cyber security professionals periodically. Having 24/7 availability and capability of flexible scopes makes Bugbounter services adaptable to changing business environments.
With a guaranteed ROI, no fees are assessed unless a cyber security expert reports a valid security vulnerability. Bounty schemes are quick, cost-effective, and smart to find critical cyber vulnerabilities in your retail or eCommerce company’s web/mobile applications, database or critical infrastructures. A bug bounty program can be set up, customized, and managed quickly, with results likely to appear within the first 24 hours.
Why wait until a cyber incident occurs? Just get in touch with us and receive your first bug report for free?
Common cyber threats against digital companies have risen significantly in the last several years. The first two months of 2022 reported more cyber crimes than in 2018, according to data by CERT-In. The number used to be as low as $3 trillion in 2015. With rapid and indefinite technological growth, new and equally developed threats to security arise. A whole new host of cybersecurity threats have placed the world on high alert. Companies constantly look for malware, data breaches, vulnerabilities, etc.
Cybersecurity has become as integral a part of our lives as locks on our front doors. Cybercrime poses grave threats to company and customer data alike. Small and medium-sized enterprises fall victim to cyber-attacks more commonly. This is a consequence of a lack of investment in multi-layered cyber security measures such as publishing a bug bounty program.
What are Some Common Cyber Threats?
Businesses are run online, and all activities are becoming online-based. Such growing reliance on the internet has given rise to new, more sophisticated forms of cyber attacks. It is only likely that these threats will develop and present themselves in an increasingly brutal fashion over time.
While threats may seemingly spring up on companies, consequences take longer to present themselves, which may be further attributed to the lack of proper cybersecurity awareness that prevails in the business world. Small companies must take cyber awareness as seriously as big names in the industry.
Cyber threats to companies may take on multiple forms. Here’s a brief list of three common cyber threats digital companies face:
Third-Party Exposure
In today’s business world, all tasks are either automated or outsourced. It benefits businesses in multiple ways. Automation helps reduce the risk of manual error and the need for human intervention. Outsourcing gives companies the benefit of optimal time management while simultaneously achieving their standard task benchmarks.
With third-party business relationships becoming the norm, the risk of security breaches through those channels increases.
Third-party Exposure is the process by which an attacker uses third-party channels to breach their primary target’s tech infrastructure. Companies that outsource their business tasks usually implement proper security measures. But if the third-party sources lack the appropriate protection, a hacker can breach their networks and devices to gain unauthorized access to their primary target’s data.
Here’s a prime example of third-party risk:
In 2021, a company called Socialarks had its data breached. Socialarks is a digital company that was a third-party entity in relationships with Facebook, Instagram, and Linkedin. This data breach caused a massive leak of private and personal information of over 214 million users. Information like users’ phone numbers, email activity, and social media activity was leaked, which exposed millions of social media users to threats of identity theft, personal security risks, cyber threats, etc.
In the future, third-party risk will become increasingly prominent owing to the post-pandemic trend of outsourcing. Independent contractors, freelancers, and vendors, among others, are all third-party channels that pose threats to a company. It is essential to vet these channels and ensure they meet the necessary security criteria before onboarding.
Phishing
Since the beginning of email communication, phishing has been a standard method of breaching confidential information. Phishing is a method to gain unauthorized access to users’ credentials. A hacker can send infected emails that prompt users to enter their credentials into a seemingly normal web page query. These emails are embedded with viruses and malware. Any information entered into questions led from such emails will be shared with the hacker.
Attackers commonly use phishing emails to gain access to login credentials to critical databases of a company. Phishing emails appear to be from reputable and safe sources. From credit card information theft to installing malicious software on a user’s device, phishing poses various threats. Phishing is a cyber threat that one must be aware of as it is widespread.
The initial step in combating phishing is proper training and education of employees. With an eye for detail, one can recognize phishing emails. Phishing is usually targeted at high-level employees and executives. These users are more likely to access confidential and classified data that can harm a company if breached. Through training and simulated exercises, employees can gain insight into the workings of scam emails.
Along with user training, proper network security and access control must be practiced. Layered protection must be implemented to lessen the impact of phishing-related breaches.
Ransomware
Ransomware is any malicious software installed covertly on a user’s device. This malware then proceeds to encrypt data and files on the device, which renders the files useless unless decrypted with the correct key. The hacker then demands money or favors to decrypt the user’s data – a ransom. Malicious hackers, or black hat hackers, use Ransomware to hold confidential data hostage to blackmail users into fulfilling their demands.
Ransomware is not exactly new to the world of digital security. However, Ransomware is becoming an expensive form of cyber attack with every instance. In the last year, a survey taken of 1263 professionals in the cybersecurity domain showed that 66% of the companies suffered revenue losses as a result of ransomware. Ransomware has also caused a loss in leadership roles from resignation and termination. Failure to handle Ransomware attacks might also lead to the loss of reputation in addition to a loss in revenue.
In recent times, Ransomware is becoming commercialized. Professional black hat hackers offer Ransomware as a Service (RaaS). Subscribers to the service are provided with preset ransomware, which can be used to attack their target individuals or companies. RaaS providers take a predetermined portion of the ransom as payment. It goes to show that criminals find Ransomware to be affordable and convenient for carrying out small-time cybercrimes. But the companies affected by them incur losses that are often massive and difficult to recover from.
Ransomware as a Service is a cause for concern. Such services essentially mean Ransomware incidents will only rise in number.
Take Action Against Common Cyber Threats with Bug Bounty!
The above is merely a brief list of common cyber threats. Digital transformation of all businesses as we advance is inevitable. But staying alert and constantly updating your cybersecurity awareness can be a hassle while simultaneously running your business. Malicious hackers possess the time and resources to attack a company’s workings.
The blockchain-based bug bounty platform, BugBounter offers businesses 24/7 accessibility, flexible scoping, and more than 2500 cyber security experts from around the globe. Without a valid bug report coming from the ethical hacker, there is a guaranteed ROI, and no fees are allocated. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to a cybersecurity strategy. Even organizations that work in the same sector will have different requirements.
Cyber resilience refers to an organization’s capacity to respond to and bounce back again from the effects of cyber attacks. Because traditional security measures are inadequate to guarantee sufficient cybersecurity, cyber resilience is crucial. The objective is to ensure that, following a cyber attack, the organization can do business as soon as possible. This blog will explain why it is essential for businesses to achieve cyber resilience and develop a solid cyber-resilience strategy.
How Can a Company Build a Strong Cyber Resilience?
In order to quickly respond to and recoup cyber threats, a business needs to develop cybersecurity awareness and resilience. Businesses face cyber risks. This is due to the increasingly complex and sophisticated techniques that target organizations. The rise of cyberattacks causes a massive need for ethical hacking on a global scale.
Identify your assets
For example, when interacting with a business, a retail customer expects a seamless experience in all areas. These consist of shopping, ordering, payment, assurance, and customer support. The same is valid for professional services like medical services and other advanced technologies. Business systems need to be highly interconnected to meet these expectations. Therefore, it’s crucial to understand how things relate to one another and which processes are vital. Leading companies like Amazon, Flipkart, and many other eCommerce companies use automated systems to keep track of all processes. That way, they can identify which assets or systems to isolate during a disruption.
Internet security and email filtering
According to reports, over 90% of attacks on organizations begin with a malicious email. Relying solely on built-in cybersecurity assets could expose your company to cyber criminals.
Malicious links and files are the main methods of introducing malware into organizations’ systems for hacking, password theft, and eventual access to vital systems. The first defense against cyber attacks related to email or web browsing is web and email filtering. Many potentially dangerous security breaches can be stopped at the outset. This is possible by incorporating email security and web filtering technologies.
Analyze and test backups
Consistently test and update the cyber-resilience policies governing mission-critical company assets and operations. According to modifications in company operations and the outcomes of exercises, update plans and procedures. Patch software and software applications whenever the latest changes or patches seem to be available.
Be sure to regularly update about the importance of senior management on the organization’s cyber defense. Backups must be reliable, secure, and accessible to guarantee business resilience. Regular testing, and detecting vulnerabilities in your systems to take precaution are vital procedures to ensure the data’s availability and integrity. Backups give the company more confidence in the data that has been backed up when tested. This is because mistakes or setbacks in the backup process can be detected and quickly fixed.
Make a recovery plan
How many interruptions can your business handle without compromising its ability to serve customers? A quick recovery time might be costly, but a relatively long one might result in an extended outage that is bad for business and business reputation. The best course of action for your business is to create or purchase recovery and backup solutions. These can let you keep updated backups. They must be easy to access and resistant to malware that destroys or corrupts backups. Each time your environment changes, or every three months, test your disaster recovery plan.
Your company can continue to operate with few interruptions with the aid of a well-tested, verified and repeatable response-and-recovery plan.
How Does Cyber Resilience Keep Companies Secure and Safeguard Their Data?
It aids you to be always be one step ahead
The best defense is prevention; advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies are used to implement cyber resilience systems that can help detect suspicious activity before it becomes a serious threat. In addition to these techniques, publishing a bug bounty program on an outsourced platform can help the company strengthen their disaster recovery plan. Also by updating detection procedures, keeping an eye on logs, and becoming acquainted with typical data flows, you’ll be able to spot any irregularities right away. You should be able to assess a breach’s impact in addition to its presence with the proper monitoring.
You’ll be prepared for emergencies
As you strengthen your defenses, you’ll stop malicious hackers from erasing and destroying valuable data. Whenever it comes to safeguarding your data, there is no room for error.
You must continuously get the vulnerabilities in your systems detected, and update data protection measures to keep up with them and beat malicious hackers. By putting these cyber defense strategies into practice, you’ll be able to comprehend best practices and update plans frequently. Following a successful or unsuccessful attack, it will be simple to cope. It will make you prepared to make sure you are ready for the next response.
Other benefits:
A robust and reliable cyber resilience plan tailored to the needs of a business can assist you in recovering from hacking. One that is supported by a comprehensive plan and realistic risk assessments and has many advantages.
Decreased financial losses and downtime
Faster time for recovery
Increased client loyalty and confidence
Improved brand recognition
You must analyze your company, establish business goals, create a plan, and then update it as necessary to reap these benefits.
Did you know that the more money a startup raises, the more likely it is to be hacked? It is safe to say that every 39 seconds, there is a new attack on the web. Data also shows that startups are increasingly getting vulnerable to data breaches with each round of funding. It is not just the question of losing data; brand reputation and customer loyalty are also at stake.
As an investor of a startup, it is essential to understand the role of cybersecurity measures and how you can strengthen it with BugBounter. When a startup receives funding, malicious hackers are more likely to target it. Here’s why:
Why are Startups More Attractive to Hack When Funded?
First, the startup will have more resources available, which means that the hacker will have more access to information. Second, the startup will be more likely to have a higher profile, which means that the hacker will be able to gain more attention for their exploits. The startup will be more likely to have a more extensive user base, which means that the hacker will be able to cause more damage.
In short, a funded startup is a much more attractive target for a hacker and should be treated as such. Let’s take a look at why startups need cybersecurity and what they can do to stay secure.
Why Do Startups Need Cybersecurity?
With every corner of the world coming together online, cybercrime has seen an exponential boom. New techniques and proxy methods of orchestrating cyber attacks have been on the rise. Where conglomerates ran ahead with investing in infrastructure to combat it, small startups have had to balance out a new cost in their sheet that they had not envisioned.
Malicious hackers don’t need a huge team to orchestrate an attack; they need to find the growing business and build backward from deprioritized cybersecurity systems. Startups have been growing in the last few years due to a new wave of investment and fresh opportunities to capitalize on; users flock to a new app at a rapid pace because of the novelty, and they spend a disproportionate amount of time on the screen. For every update, testing is the core of checking how the product matches the expectations, but testing is often a go-live process when it’s a start up company. A go-live process is when new features are added without testing them for vulnerabilities.
Since the pandemic began, there have been multiple reports on how the dark web is hungry for data. More than 90% of the dark web is buzzing with hackers getting paid to hack into databases of new businesses. A few sectors are more susceptible to cyber threats because they handle sensitive data like BFSI and healthcare. Auditing is an essential cog in the wheel for ensuring security around the newly added features.
However, startups often tend to miss prioritizing cybersecurity. This is how:
How Startups Overlook Cybersecurity As An Option?
Every startup has a fundamental unique idea in the form of an intellectual property. Every startup’s long-term goal is to extend its services and continue to add to what it is already doing. The startup is keen on developing its product which is not final yet, and its investment goes towards building features and products into its existing offerings. Thus, most startups don’t think about becoming a target for cyber attackers because of the number of people already working in their development teams in different capacities. That’s why they don’t consider cyber security in the short term and look at it as a luxury they can invest in when the time comes. Across different types of startups, they remain vulnerable to cyber thefts if they never build the protection.
Consequences of Not Investing in Cybersecurity
When a person leaves a startup, that enterprise will have an account that’s barely used, which can, in return, cause multiple issues down the road. A startup where passwords don’t change means phishing, and ransomware attacks are always a clickbait ad away. Reports from Cybint put 95% of the responsibility on human errors in making cyber threats that much more accessible than they should be.
Without the necessary security measures, hackers could easily access the startup’s sensitive data, including customer information and financial records. It could result in a loss of business and damage the company’s reputation. Additionally, the company could be subject to fines and other penalties if it is found responsible for a data breach. Finally, a lack of cybersecurity investment could make it difficult for the startup to attract new investors or partners.
In today’s business environment, startups need to be aware of the importance of cybersecurity and take steps to protect themselves from potential threats. There are a few strategies that startups can do to stay secure.
What Can Startups Do to Protect Themselves from Being Hacked?
Two-factor authentication is the stepping stone into cybersecurity for your startup company. An IT security assessment with engineers is needed to understand how they are chaining together the different kinds of authentications and verifications. The assessment helps design the architecture against cyber attacks and prepare against cyber threats. The next step is creating a code structure where you can be notified if any hacker tries to hack into your systems. It will keep the development team on their toes to maintain a high level of information security.
The company’s software team needs to know where the company is exposed. A hacker will try to collect several assets and look around each vulnerability. The goal is to get into the source code, where all the credentials are encoded and stored. A way to get there is by understanding where they are hosting it, AWS, GCP, or any other cloud data platform. Then the hacker can aim at breaking the connection between different infrastructures. The following points should be on your priority list as you build robust cyber security for your startup:
Build your internal security team
Try out a vulnerability disclosure program
Hire white hat hackers and analyze from time to time. Publishing a bug bounty program assists to get the security vulnerabilities in your system detected and reported by cybersecurity experts.
The Paradigm Shift to Address Cybersecurity
To address cybersecurity, there needs to be a fundamental shift in the startup community. Admins and management are responsible for accounting for malicious activities and must educate every part of the organization. From accounts to operations to sales, the awareness to understand the loss from a simple attack has to flow throughout the system. An estimated $20 billion has been paid as ransom pay-outs. The world is taking notice of the necessity of spending on cybersecurity. The market is slated to reach a valuation of $2 trillion by the end of 2022.
Strengthen Your Cybersecurity with BugBounter
Invest in your company with BugBounter‘s bug bounty to build solutions to get your vulnerabilities reported. BugBounter’s bug bounty is a 24/7 available, cost-effective solution that provides high ROI. With BugBounter, you can publish a bug bounty in a short time, and receive your first report within the first 24 hours thanks to our community of more than 2500 cybersecurity experts at your disposal.
