Cyber Attacks - How Can You Stay Safe?

Introduction

The primary reason for the advent of Technology is to create ease for humans. The rate at which technology is involved in our daily activities cannot be overlooked, whether in our communication, transportation, health and businesses. These sectors employ the use of technology to operate effectively and efficiently. There is no need for physical meetings as apps have been developed to assist with that. The need to see a doctor for diagnosis is becoming unnecessary, as an AI can provide you with one once symptoms are mentioned. Over the years, technology has provided job opportunities, with statistics from Brookings Institution revealing that in Africa, only mobile technologies has generated 1.7 million jobs with a contribution of $144 million to the continent's economy. 

Irrespective of the benefits of technology, there has been a propagation of negative effects that not only affect individuals but have posed a threat to various nations across the globe; these are the famous Cyber Attacks, also called cybercrime.

What are Cyber Attacks?

Wikipedia defines Cyber-attacks as any offensive manoeuvre that targets computer information systems, networks, infrastructures and personal computer devices. A Cyber-attack is a deliberate action by criminals via the web with the intent of stealing, exposing or altering the information of an individual, organization or nation through unauthorized access. Cybersecurity threats have recently continued to be a huge worry for organizations and companies, specifically during the Covid-19 pandemic/lockdown in 2020, when numerous businesses relied on the internet for operations. Reports have shown that cyber-attack sits among the top 5 risks in the world.

Types of Cyber Attacks

Cyber-attacks are not just random activities by a group of hackers playing around with their computer system. Most threats are orchestrated and well-planned to target an individual or organization. They also come in various types, some of which include:

1. Malware: Malware is also known as malicious software and is a generalized term for various software used to attack and exploit unauthorized information from a computer system. There are various malware, including worm, Trojan horse, ransomware and viruses. During the covid-19 pandemic, ransomware was said to be popular as cyber criminals withheld people's sensitive information and made ridiculous demands as ransom for the release. 

2.Phishing: The word Phishing is coined from the word 'fishing' as cyber criminals fish for vital information from individuals. This method of cyber-attack is alarming as hackers create websites that appear legitimate to the common person but are, in fact, fake and illegitimate, and are made with the intent of obtaining sensitive information like username and password from the users in order to carry out fraudulent acts. At times, these criminals make use of emails and text messages. Phishing is a common cyber-attack, as 2022 reports reveal the growth of phishing attacks detected to be by 45%, with close to 15 million detections of the crime. Most individuals tend to fall prey to phishing attacks compared to others. 

3. Denial of Service (Dos) Attack:  when a hacker uses the DOS attack, they aim to cause a crash on a website. This attack is carried out by causing inorganic traffic on the website, subsequently leading to damage that prevents users from accessing needed resources. In this attack, there is not necessarily a loss of information or theft, but financial losses arise as the organization tries to rectify or solve the problem. Research shows that Denial of service attacks costs enterprise companies between $300,000 and over $1,000,000 per hour.

Why Do Cyber-Attacks Occur?

Cyber-attacks are either targeted or untargeted but never unplanned. Those who carry out this threat can either be individuals against an organization, individuals against individuals or even nations against nations. Concerning the Russian and Ukraine conflict, Checkpoint research reported that cyber-attacks on the Ukraine government and the military sector increased by 196% in the first three days of the war. 

Effects of Cyber Attacks

Cyber security threats have a high risk rate, and any successful attack on any organization will harm the business and might be gruelling to recover from. According to the Guardian newspaper, between July and September 2020, the NIBSS (Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System) recorded a loss of N3.5 billion to fraud, a huge increase from N522 million recorded in 2019.

Cyber attacks must be prevented judiciously, as they could damage a Nation's reputation and lead to disfavour in international trade. 

Also, the repercussion of cyber-attacks affects an organization's progress. Cyber threats like the Denial of service attack (DOS) put the company at a standstill as no progress can be made until the problem is rectified. The company's reputation is also jeopardized as its customers could view their business as unreliable and unsafe. Businesses that provide financial services are the most prone to customer churning should they fall prey to cyber-attacks.

From an individual point of view, the loss of important information can be detrimental as these criminals can use their (victim's) information to carry out other fraudulent practices. A person's hard-earned money can go down the drain due to these fraudulent activities.

How Can Individuals Avoid these Attacks?

 The world is a global village, and just as social vices exist, cybercrimes cannot be eliminated. As long as there is technology, exposures to cyber-attacks remain. However, with every problem, there is a solution and for individuals to avoid being victims, here are some preventive measures that individuals and businesses can take:

1. Create strong passwords: passwords are necessary to guard against violation of personal information or unauthorized access. However, these passwords must be strong enough to achieve this effectively. It is advisable not to use similar passwords on all sites. Again, passwords should be a combination of letters, symbols and special characters (e.g. #,$,%,@). As much as possible also, do not share passwords with others.

2. Be updated on security breach trends: As cybersecurity becomes a hot topic globally, it is important for individuals and organizations to stay updated and informed at all times. Trends on better information security practices should be followed judiciously, and opportunities for increased enlightenment on cybersecurity should be taken by individuals and organizations. 

3. Use Mulfifactor authenticators: This works by engaging an extra level of security in addition to your pin or password. It could be by answering a security question or inputting a One Time Password (OTP). This provides more security and makes it harder for hackers to access mobile applications or websites.

4. Use VPNs: VPN is an abbreviation for Virtual Private Network. A VPN assists in encrypting and protecting information. It should generally be used when connecting to an external network to secure personal information. VPNs usually ensure that data and privacy are protected. Without a VPN, online presence can be monitored and taken advantage of.  

5. Carefully monitor children during internet use: There is a high tendency for children to throw caution to the wind when making use of the internet, as they may click on any site that appeals to them. Parents are required to carefully monitor their children during the use of internet-enabled devices. 

6. Think before you click: This popular internet warning creates awareness and draws users' attention to the need for adequate scrutiny before clicking links or website URLs.

It is also very important to trust no supposed expert with personal information, including passwords, pins, OTP, etc. Such information must be kept private. It is also important to download and frequently update anti-malware, create cyber-security threat strategies etc. These measures would safeguard critical information at Individual, organizational, national and global levels.