The New Generation Of Cyber Security Threats
Employees working from home have become a tempting target for hackers. Cyber criminals are exploiting the chaos caused by the virus and the proportion of attacks targeting home workers increased from 12% of malicious email traffic before the lockdown began in March to more than 60% just six weeks later.
Leading AI-driven cybers security firm Darktrace say they detected “a large malicious email campaign” against UK businesses that told employees they could choose to be furloughed if they signed up to a specific unnamed website.
The attacks have increased in sophistication, specifically targeting coronavirus-related anxieties rather than the more usual attempts at financial fraud or extortion. These threats typically aim to sidestep standard cyber security measures that many home workers now have in place, and that means that its necessary to take some extra steps to thwart them.
Phishing attacks, where hackers use misleading emails or fake web sites to trick people into clicking on malicious links or downloading malware onto their computers, have long been one of the most dangerous types of cyber-attacks. The best way to protect against phishing attacks is to be aware of the risks. That means that staff should be educated and reminded never to click on links in emails that they are not expecting, and never to download software from websites that they reach via a link in an email, especially if they purport to contain information about COVID-19.
Hackers understand that there are rich pickings to be had in the cloud, which explains a new type of threat which is emerging: Cloud-Intelligence (AI) technology is advancing at a very high rate, and one area that hackers are likely to use this in the future is in the production of "deepfake" voices which mimic the voice of a real person.
Using deepfake voice technology, hackers could reproduce the voice of a charity leader, and then call a charity employee working from home. Using the deepfake voice the hacker could then tell the employee to transfer money to a bank account using some plausible pretext.
Reducing human error has as much of a role in cyber security as a faulty anti-malware system. Make sure you know what you can do within your role to protect your company from cyber-attacks and have cyber security training for all your employees. Proper training is a cost effective and usually results in spending less on cyber security because your workforce's activities are tightly aligned to the threats.
Keeping your company safe from cyber threats requires diligence and effective IT cybersecurity strategies. Combining common sense with good practices can help avoid cyber attack attempts.
Darktrace: Cybersecurity Insiders: Guardian: CUNA Mutual: Charity Digital:
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