{"id":36012,"date":"2019-11-14T17:25:10","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T21:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/?p=36012"},"modified":"2023-04-20T23:03:12","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T03:03:12","slug":"common-security-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2019\/common-security-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"Common IT Security Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to your network’s IT security and protecting sensitive data and vital information, learn some of the most common issues.<\/h2>\n

Cybersecurity is a subject on almost every business leader\u2019s mind today. It\u2019s easy to see why. The number of businesses experiencing an attack increased by\u00a0more than 15 percent last year alone.<\/p>\n

The increasing number of attacks has put everyone on high alert. Governments are now passing new laws to improve data management. Business owners look to lock up their data.<\/p>\n

The reality for many small business owners, though, is that IT security isn\u2019t cheap. If you have a limited budget, you need to know how to spend it.<\/p>\n

Luckily, we\u2019ve rounded up this list of the most common IT security issues facing you and your company. With this knowledge in hand, you can work on creating a strategy to address these very real threats.<\/p>\n

Phishing Attacks Are Evolving<\/b><\/h2>\n

If you haven\u2019t read the IT security news recently, you might think viruses and worms are the biggest threats.<\/p>\n

Social engineering is probably more common and more dangerous for your business. One common tactic is the phishing attack.<\/p>\n

With a phishing attack, cybercriminals turn to individual users to give them the information they want. The criminals pose as a trusted source. This might be a financial institution or a well-known website.<\/p>\n

They often send an email, which may look quite official at first glance. The sender asks the user for account or financial information. If the user falls for the trick, they send sensitive information to the sender.<\/p>\n

The Rise of Spear Phishing<\/b><\/h3>\n

\"spear-phishing-attacks-what-you-need-to-know\"<\/a>
\nSpear-Phishing Attacks: What You Need to Know<\/em><\/p>\n

Phishing attacks have moved away from being mass emailing campaigns. They’re becoming highly targeted messages, which is known as spear phishing.<\/p>\n

In a spear-phishing attack, the criminal will track their target for some time. They put far more effort into crafting a message that\u2019s more likely to fool the victim.<\/p>\n

How can your team protect against phishing and other types of social engineering? The best possible thing to do is to train your team. Help them recognize and avoid threats, then report suspicious emails or messages.<\/p>\n

DoS and DDoS Damage Businesses<\/b><\/h2>\n

Phishing attacks and social engineering focus on your people. They’re often the weakest links in the security chain.<\/p>\n

Denial of Service and Distributed Denial of Service attack a different part of the chain. In this case, DoS and DDoS attack your servers.<\/p>\n

These attacks are fairly easy for cybercriminals to carry out. They cause huge headaches for any web-based business. If your website is your only source of revenue, you want to protect yourself against DoS and DDoS attacks.<\/p>\n

How do these attacks happen? A criminal uses a machine to send many requests to your web servers. The idea is to flood the server, overloading it and making it inaccessible to legitimate users.<\/p>\n

Today, it\u2019s difficult to take down a server with one machine. Cybercriminals have adjusted to this reality. They instead use DDoS to bring down your servers.<\/p>\n

A DDoS attack uses many devices to flood your server. In some cases, there may be hundreds or thousands of devices sending requests.<\/p>\n

In these cases, it\u2019s likely the criminal has used malware to take control of other people\u2019s devices. This creates what\u2019s known as a botnet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

DDoS attacks are more difficult to overcome than DoS attacks because there are many IP addresses. It can be difficult to sort legitimate users from botnet requests.<\/p>\n

Malware is More Versatile than Ever<\/b><\/h2>\n

\"antivirus-software-protect-your-computer\"<\/a>
\nYour anti-virus software is not enough<\/em><\/p>\n

Malware may not be the buzzword on everyone\u2019s lips these days, but don\u2019t let that fool you. Malware is still at large, and the category is broader than ever.<\/p>\n

Malware is any unwanted software installed on your system. It can take many forms:<\/p>\n