What is a Cyberattack? A Guide for Businesses

Unless you’ve been living on another planet for the last several years, you’ll have heard the term “cyberattack” thrown around literally everywhere—from news channels to social media. For some people, the concept of a cyberattack is still a little hard to understand, so here is a simple explanation: a cyberattack is when a cybercriminal or organization attempts to gain access to a computer system or network with bad intent.

Usually, the purpose of a cyberattack is to steal important documents, view important information, or to cause a system to shut down. Sometimes, though, cyberattacks don’t have any real purpose. Instead, the cybercriminal on the other end simply wants to cause chaos for no reason, which is often the case. 

Put simply, cyberattacks are one of the biggest threats facing businesses today. Here, you can learn everything you need to know about them, from what a cyberattack is to how you can protect your business.

How to Protect Your Business from Cyberattacks 

Now that you know what a cyberattack is, you need to protect your business so that your employees and customers remain safe. Otherwise, you run the risk of experiencing stolen data, financial loss, and even damage to your reputation in your chosen industry. 

To protect your business from future cyberattacks, the first step you need to take is using the services of a company such as Bytes—a trusted provider of cybersecurity solutions. By doing this, you can have peace of mind knowing that your business is protected from top to bottom. Plus, you get the added benefit of 24/7 managed protection, which is a feature that all modern businesses need. 

Next, it’s recommended you send your employees on a cybersecurity training course. They’ll be able to do this either in-person or online, so it’s simply a case of choosing the option that you think is best. Then, through the cybersecurity training, your employees will be able to learn how to spot potential cybersecurity threats and handle them accordingly. On top of this, most cybersecurity training courses equip employees with the knowledge they need to stay extra secure, such as using stronger passwords and enabling two-factor authentication across their company accounts. 

Remember, 95% of cyberattacks are due to human error, so providing your employees with cybersecurity training is a great protection strategy. 

Cyberattack Examples

There are many different types of cyberattacks. Some are extremely severe, while others happen on a smaller scale. The following paragraphs take a closer look at some examples so that you can understand them in more detail:

Phishing Attack 

There’s a new cyberattack every 44 seconds—and phishing attacks are the most common of them all. 

Simply put, a phishing attack is an incident that convinces someone (e.g., an employee) to take action that benefits the attacker. Usually, this involves them clicking on a malicious link sent via email or direct messages. 

Example: Your employee is sitting in the office one day and gets an email from a fake client saying they want to do business with you. Within the email is a link that the sender claims will redirect you to their website for more information. However, the link is actually a malicious web source that enables the sender to steal important information, such as business bank account details.

Thankfully, although phishing attacks can be extremely devastating, they’re very easy to spot. Usually, all you have to look out for is suspicious email addresses, weirdly worded paragraphs, and a call-to-action that’s trying to get you to click on a link. 

Malware Attack 

Next, there are malware attacks. A malware attack is a common cyberattack strategy where malware (a type of malicious software) is used to gain unauthorized access to a computer system. 

Example: An employee visits a dangerous spam website that infects their device with malware which then spreads throughout the network. As a result, all connected network devices are then infected, too.

In the case of a malware attack, the best course of action is to disconnect all devices and contact your IT security provider as soon as possible. 

Denial-of-Service (DoS) Attack 

A DoS attack is a clever type of cyberattack where a network is overwhelmed with fake requests. This then causes the network to completely crash, meaning authorized users (i.e., your employees and customers) can no longer access it. This can be very costly in terms of finances, as you’ll experience downtime and might also have to pay to get everything up and running again. 

Example: A cybercriminal group uses a botnet to overwhelm your website server with requests. Your website can’t handle the fake traffic and therefore crashes as a result.

The good news is that DoS attacks don’t last forever. However, just like with malware attacks, you should contact your IT security provider fast so that the damage can be assessed and any weak points fixed. 

Summary 

As the business world becomes increasingly digital, cybercrime will continue to grow. Because of this, you need to invest in your cybersecurity moving forward so that you don’t experience the negative impacts of cyberattacks in the future. 

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