Cyberattacks and Cyberthreats

Unaddressed cyberthreats have the potential to become cyberattacks. Understanding the nature of cyberthreats, the potential to disrupt or damage networks or systems, or alter or steal data, is important to developing and implementing measures to thwart cyberattacks, which come in many forms.

Many cyberattacks are carried out through the use of malware, which is malicious code designed to alter computer networks or systems. A virus is a type of malware that can infect computers, propagating to other computers to perform malicious and unauthorized acts.

One way that malware is introduced into computers is through phishing and other forms of social engineering. Social engineering is the process by which actors develop and tailor communications to unwitting victims, usually via email, so that the victim believes the communications are authentic. In such cases, the victim either reveals information (i.e., passwords) that enables an actor to gain access, or the victim clicks on a hyperlink in an email that launches malware to gain access to or control of the victim's computer.

Denial of service is another type of attack—one that is accomplished in several different ways. One method is to use distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, which occur when an actor gains access to a group of computers and uses them to flood a victim's computer so that it is unable to handle the volume of communications, disabling the computer.

A SYN (synchronization) flood is another type of denial-of-service attack in which large volumes of SYN requests are sent to a victim's system, consuming so much of the system's resources that the system can not respond to legitimate communications.

Finally, large volumes of spam can be used to consume computer space and processing capacity, affecting the computer's ability to function as intended.

While there are different types of cyberattacks, there are also different motives for attacks. Attackers could be criminals, could be focused on making political statements, could be consumed with the thrill of hacking, or could be interested in stealing data for financial gain.

Cyberthreat actors can also be disgruntled or motivated insiders with accesses that could be used to alter or steal data, or provide unauthorized access to others.

The insider threat is real, and with the uptick in instances of insiders causing significant damages, it is important to consider all potential avenues of threats and potential attacks.