TL;DR — The Log4j vulnerability is one of the most dangerous cybersecurity threats in the world. It allows hackers direct access to your computers, which can compromise sensitive data and lead to ransomware and other attacks. Patch management is essential to mitigating these risks.
Threat & Vulnerability Management
One of the central pillars of cyberdefense is preventing malicious code from entering your IT environment. With malware anywhere on your hardware or software, cybercriminals can steal, delete, or otherwise compromise your assets. But how does malicious code work in practice? In other words, what is a possible effect of malicious code?
Insider Threats 101: How to Keep Your Organization Protected
In cybersecurity, many of the threats most commonly talked about come from external attackers. Hackers and cybercriminals are often looking for ways to enter into your systems unnoticed to access and change, steal, or otherwise compromise your data. But insider threats can cause just as much damage as outside attackers—in some cases, they may be even more dangerous.
Every organization that connects to the internet, has multiple workstations and servers, processes personal information, and considers cyberattack mitigation a priority must manage potential vulnerabilities. Protecting your network infrastructure requires consistent monitoring to discover and identify vulnerabilities promptly. This blog article covers seven types of vulnerability scanners that will help keep your organization’s information assets secure.
What is Threat Modeling, and Why Does It Matter for Cybersecurity?
To remain safe from cybersecurity threats, you must develop a comprehensive understanding of how these threats might unfold and eliminate as many exploitable risks as possible. One way to do so is to model cybersecurity threat scenarios. So, what is threat modeling, and how does it work? Read our blog for a guide to cybersecurity threat modeling.
Social engineering threats like phishing are common in today’s cybersecurity landscape. If unattended, these threats can develop into full-blown attacks that result in data breaches. So, what is a common indicator of a phishing attempt? Read our blog to find out the top indicators and how you can stop attacks or minimize their impact if and when they do happen.
Maintaining high data privacy and security standards is critical to preventing cybersecurity threats from compromising your data. For a more streamlined implementation of security and privacy controls, NIST recommends a set of diverse requirements that cater to any organization, regardless of size, industry, or business needs. Read on to learn more about NIST SP 800-53.
With cyber attacks on the rise, many leaders are asking: what’s the likelihood of a cyber attack on my company? Being prepared is critical to successfully defending your organization from impending attacks. Read on to learn how to identify signs of a cyber attack and prepare for one.
How to Know the Likelihood of a Cyber Attack On My Company
You can identify the probability of a cyber attack on your company by reviewing:
- Intelligence on how often cyber attacks happen to businesses
- The impact of cyber attacks on other businesses
With an understanding of the likelihood of your company being a target of a cyberattack, you will be better prepared to address these attacks head-on. As a business leader wondering, “what’s the likelihood of a cyber attack on my company?,” You should consult a threat and vulnerability management expert on best practices for how to protect against cyber attacks on your company.
The Chances Of Getting Cyber Attacked
The likelihood of a cyber attack on your company will most likely depend on the:
- Types of sensitive data you handle (e.g., protected health information (PHI))
- Nature of your cybersecurity infrastructure (e.g., threat detection safeguards)
- Cybersecurity risks inherent to your industry (e.g., sensitive data processing)
Understanding the top risks for cyber attacks will help you figure out how to prevent a cyber attack from impacting your business.
How Often Cyber Attacks Occur On Businesses
The best way to assess the likelihood of a cyber attack on your company is to review the cyber attack statistics by year. These statistics are useful when comparing the likelihood and impact of cyber attacks on businesses. Unfortunately, in recent years, small businesses tend to be disproportionately affected by cyber attacks.
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Percentage Of Cyber Attacks On Small Businesses
About 43% of cyber attacks affect small businesses, meaning that many of these businesses can make significant losses due to the financial impact of cyber attacks. And 60% of these businesses shut down operations within six months of an attack.
Why Hackers Target Small Businesses
Small businesses are targeted by hackers because these businesses often lack established cyberdefense infrastructure to defend against cyber attacks. With relatively small budgets for security, small businesses tend to rely on older security controls to save money for business growth and expansion.
The Industries Most At Risk For Cyber Attacks
Cyber attacks on financial institutions were among the most common in 2021, with ransomware being the most dangerous kind of attack. Financial institutions such as banks are lucrative targets for cyber attacks because of the enormous funds these organizations handle. These institutions are also common ransomware targets because cyberattackers recognize that most leaders willingly pay ransoms when their organizations are attacked.
Industries like healthcare are also targeted because cyber attackers can sell sensitive information on the dark web for significant financial gain. Stakeholders fear the implications of compromising data protected by HIPAA, including financial penalties and even criminal charges.
However, it should be noted that any organization that stores, transmits, processes, or comes into contact with sensitive information is at high risk, irrespective of industry. Hackers know that, more often than not, organizations will pay to keep data confidential.
The Impact Of Cyber Attacks
If they are not mitigated early on, cyber attacks can significantly impact your business.
The impact of a cyber attack on your business may range from operational disruptions to lawsuits that affect your reputation. Finally, you may have to deal with the financial implications of an attack, such as fines and penalties, especially if regulatory non-compliance is involved.
How To Minimize The Impact Of Cyber Attacks On Businesses
If a cyber attack occurs on your business, you must immediately deploy an incident response protocol to mitigate the effects of the attack. Managing the response to a cyber attack will help:
- Contain the source of the attack before it spreads to other components
- Analyze the attack to understand how or why it occurred
- Prevent a similar attack from happening in the future
- Restore the affected system to its original condition
Investing in a robust incident response protocol will help minimize the impact of a cyber attack on your business.
Cybersecurity Tips to Prevent Cyber Attacks on Your Company
Some of the most effective ways to prevent cyber attacks on your company include:
- Implementing resilient access controls such as—
- Multifactor authentication (MFA)
- Strong password use policies
- Keeping devices and applications updated with the latest security patches
- Conducting routine penetration testing of networks and systems
Considering the multitude of cybersecurity risks that could affect your business, the best cyber attack mitigation strategy is to partner with a threat and vulnerability management services provider like RSI Security.
How RSI Security Can Help
Keeping your business safe from cyberattacks requires tools that can effectively detect security risks early in their lifecycle. If attacks occur, your organization must be prepared with the appropriate defenses. If you are a business leader asking, “what’s the likelihood of a cyber attack on my company?” RSI Security’s team of experts will help you conduct an extensive threat and vulnerability assessment and help manage any threats to your systems.
Contact RSI Security today to learn more!
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Cybersecurity threat assessments are essential to identifying threats and risks to your organization’s digital assets, especially those in proximity to sensitive data. Whether you are looking to conduct cybersecurity threat assessments for the first time or optimize an existing process, this guide will break down everything you need to know. Read on to learn more.
For your organization to discover cybersecurity vulnerabilities before they turn into full-blown threats, you need the guidance of a robust set of standards like the CIS vulnerability scanning requirements, which can guide your implementation of threat and vulnerability management controls. Read on to learn how these requirements can optimize your security posture.