One of the most vulnerable parts of cybersecurity, passwords are also one of the specifics that need the user to pay the highest attention to in order to avoid being compromised. And I am well aware that nobody enjoys the process of memorizing many convoluted passwords; as a result, people often choose number sequences or phrases that are quite straightforward and easy to crack.
Anyway, I’m here to do my bit and attempt to be of assistance to you, dear reader, so I’ll get right to it. In addition to exercising common sense not to install any nonsense on your smartphone and generating secure passwords for the many services you use, having a grasp of the most frequent sorts of assaults will assist avoid these risks.
In this article, we will discuss the four most common forms of cyber assaults, as well as the steps you may take to protect yourself from them. Also, you can check a quick guide: password security best practices.
Brute force attack
This kind of assault takes place when several attempts are made to enter a network in a relatively short amount of time. Criminals often utilize massive lists containing passwords that are either very common or have been hacked.
The best way to protect the use of a two-step authentication system and the adoption of a password consisting of at least 20 characters (preferably more than that), including numbers, uppercase, and lowercase letters, and special characters against a brute force attack. Another option is to use a password generator.
Phishing
Phishing is an ancient way of attacking a computer system, yet it is still widely used since it is so effective. It does this by manipulating victims into doing activities or divulging critical information with an initial engagement that takes place over email or SMS.
It is necessary to be well-informed in order to prevent this kind of assault. In addition to employing common sense, you should also avoid clicking on any links or supplying any information to anybody who approaches you online.
Always err on the side of caution and suspicion. In addition to that, you should phone your financial institution or corporation to verify that the communication is genuine (and most likely the answer will be NO).
Filling in credentials and access data
This particular con is also known as Credential Stuffing, and it is carried out by an automated system that tries to gain access to the victim’s platforms by inserting stolen username and password combinations into the process of logging into electronic services. The goal of this scam is to gain access to the victim’s platforms.
To protect yourself from falling prey to a con of this kind, all you need to do is follow the same precautions that you would take against an assault carried out by brute force, which include using two-factor authentication and a password that is particularly difficult to guess.
Password reuse
According to studies, more than seventy percent of employees who work in an organization end up reusing passwords for personal usage in professional situations. [citation needed] This is a terrible idea since if one account’s password is cracked, it might lead to the compromising of additional accounts.
If that corporate password winds up in a database on the dark web, then the likelihood of your whole business network being compromised is quite high. This might make the situation much worse.
In this scenario, there are two things you can do to protect yourself from the worst-case scenario: make use of a reliable password manager (which can generate unique credentials for various activities) and use your common sense to ensure that your personal and professional lives are kept completely separate from one another. Especially with the safety measures that are included in these accounts.
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