The Five Most Dangerous Cyber Threats you Face Every Day

The internet is a tool capable of greatly facilitating people’s lives. However, it is essential to act carefully to avoid many risks it hides. In these times of pandemic, cyber criminals are taking advantage of remote work.

According to Check Point’s Threat Intelligence Report, on average, in the last six months, European companies have been the victim of 333 cyber attacks per week. The company has shared the five significant threats that have caused the most problems in recent months.

The health crisis

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a very powerful social engineering tool for cybercriminals, especially between March and June. These attacks included everything from email attacks against companies to rogue applications posing as tools for tracking coronavirus cases. Between the last week of April and the first of May alone, Check Point detected 192,000 coronavirus-related attacks every seven days. It was an increase of 30% compared to the previous weeks.

Theft and leakage of data

The “ransomware,” a type of malicious code used to hijack computers, encrypt data and then ask for a ransom to the owner to regain control, is one of the great dangers businesses face. According to a recent report by the cybersecurity firm Sophos, during 2019, 51% of companies from 26 countries in the world suffered an attack of this type. 

Attacks against mobiles

More and more mobile devices surround us and are connected to the internet. They range from smartphones to smartwatches, laptops or smart TVs. In recent months, attacks against these types of devices have been increasing. The strange thing is that to this day, they have not become the most threatened platforms yet.

Cloud

The cloud has helped keep many companies running in times of pandemic. However, in many cases, it has not been carried out with total security.

The problem also lies in the incompetence of the companies themselves to set up a cloud environment properly. Those who do not have experience tend to go to a more traditional structure. Besides, they are assembled by development departments that tend to focus on their creation of productivity and do not have much security in mind. The target of attacks on these environments is usually the programmers because they are the ones who have access to all the information. Until cybersecurity awareness is gained, there will be many inaccuracies in these environments.

Cyber ​​cold war

Information on the internet flows with less control than it should. Some countries launch disinformation campaigns as seen four years ago in the United States presidential elections. The increase in trade tension between countries such as China and the United States is among the great motivations for the advance of the cyber cold war.