Are you worried about cyber attacks that can ruin your business reputation, eat your revenue, and cause long-term damage to your organization? If so, you are not alone. All businesses using digital assets, workspaces, resources, and public networks are vulnerable to such attacks.
Cyber attacks come in many forms, but they all have one goal – rendering your systems unusable or extracting sensitive data. Also, such warfare is hard to neutralize. Lasting negative impacts will reduce your dreams and investments to nothing. You may also find yourself on the wrong side of the law if your organization’s data falls into the wrong hands.
Fighting cybercrime can take a toll on your time, resources, and finances. Here are the top seven reasons cyber attacks are the most dangerous warfare you can face in any setup.
1. Lack of Expert Personnel
Dealing with cyber attacks is not as simple as using digital services for routine tasks. It requires a team of experts with the right skills, knowledge, and experience to identify, assess, and respond to such threats. Also, their job involves preventing the recurrence of such incidents. The challenge is that there is a global shortage of such personnel.
You can train your in-house IT team to deal with such threats. It will require a little commitment to achieve it. A cyber liability certification course will put your employees in a better position to deal with such threats and protect your organization.
2. It Causes Financial Losses
Hacked systems, deleted or compromised data, and business downtime can cause significant financial losses. Companies spend significant amounts restoring their systems, data, and operations, which can run into millions of dollars. The annual cost of cybercrime is expected to exceed $10 trillion by 2025.
Data loss also means lost opportunities. Your customers, inventory, projects, invoices, and other business data are essential to your bottom line. Losing this data can cause a ripple effect that disrupts your business operations, leading to massive losses. For instance, if you are a warehouse manager and your data gets deleted, you will have to start over from scratch, which can be costly. That explains the essence of data backups. But it also comes at an extra cost.
3. The Damage May Be Irreversible
Cyber attacks can cause physical damage to equipment and other business assets. Malware can destroy your hard drives, servers, workstations, and other devices. For instance, media and storage devices become unreadable and corrupted. Such errors can be irreversible when traditional cybersecurity measures fail.
Businesses running critical operations, such as hospitals and power plants, are at a higher risk of significant losses. An attack on their systems can cause a complete shutdown, leading to a loss of life. For instance, hackers could target the power grid and disable the supply to an entire city.
4 . They Launch Instantly
The internet makes things fast. On the bright side, we communicate quickly, share information instantly, and even shop for items from the comfort of our homes. The downside is that cybercriminals can launch attacks in seconds.
For instance, they can send phishing emails to countless recipients, and only a few will click on the malicious links. The unsuspecting victims will infect their systems, which the attackers can use to gain access to the organization’s network. From there, they can launch further attacks or steal data.
Also, such warfare does not require assembling the navy, assets, and supplies. All the attacker needs is a computer and an internet connection. They already have the target they need. Also, the protocols, gateways, and other security measures may not be adequate to stop them. For example, they do not need guns to rob a bank. Hacking the systems to gain access to the accounts and transfer the money is enough.
5. They Use Automated Tools
Cybercriminals have access to sophisticated tools that simplify their process. Unlike hand-held weapons that require servicing, these tools can work around the clock without rest. For instance, they can use botnets to launch distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. That renders most services unusable or inaccessible, delaying communication, transactions, and other processes.
Such attacks are not only costly to the organization but also disruptive. In some cases, they can even lead to loss of life. For instance, a DDoS attack can disable hospital systems, increasing the risk of patients losing their lives. In traffic control, it could result in accidents.
6. They Target the Weakest Link
Bombs, gunfires, and other physical attacks are direct. The attackers target specific individuals, buildings, or locations. On the contrary, cyber attacks exploit the weakest link in the network or system. For instance, phishing aims at uninformed employees and network users. Such strategies always yield higher rewards for the attackers.
Once you give your credentials to a hacker on their phishing pages, they can use them to access your systems and launch further attacks. In some cases, they can even sell your information on the dark web, where other criminals can use it for illegal purposes.
7. They Are Hard to Detect
Physical attacks are usually loud and destructive. As such, people can respond fast to incidents. Cyber attacks are hard to tell when they are happening. In most cases, you only realize it when it is too late. Take the example of ransomware. The attackers gain access to your systems and encrypt your files. They then demand a ransom for the decryption key. By then, they have already taken control of your computers or networks.
In some cases, the attackers might not even demand a ransom. They could delete your files or encrypt them beyond repair. That way, you will have no choice but to start afresh, which is costly and disruptive. If such attacks happen on government systems, they could cripple the entire country.
Conclusion
Cyber attacks are the most dangerous warfare because they are fast, use automated tools, target the weakest link, and are hard to detect. The criminals also have many target options. They can launch attacks on individuals, businesses, government institutions, and critical infrastructure. Lack of knowledge and skills in countering such attacks makes them more dangerous. Be extra vigilant and take all the necessary precautions to avoid falling prey to them.
