Ways to Deal with Cyber Risks in 2022

In a recent interview with a renowned cybersecurity current affairs channel jcampus, Penta Security’s Founder and CEO Seok-woo Lee was able to share his insights on the latest trends in cyberattacks, risks, and newest defense methods. 

According to the PWC annual global CEO survey, cyber risks/threats were expected to become one of the biggest concerns for CEOs when it comes to managing companies. As such, cyber threats have become an unavoidable factor for businesses and since the majority of people believe that the pandemic has forced the acceleration of the digital working environment – therefore, companies are also looking into making the remote work permanently. 

Many pieces of research in the past decade have shown that cyber threat damages have increased from USD 500 billion to USD 1 trillion, and this is only expected to grow even quicker. It is also predicted that there will be more than USD 10 trillion worth of cybercrime damages occurring by 2025. So in this blog, we look into the most common cyber threats and ways to protect companies from attacks. 

 

Cyber ​​Attacks that Threat Individuals and Businesses 

First of all, let’s take a brief look at the types of cyberattacks that threaten individuals. Malware is one of the most common cyberattacks that individuals encounter. Malware refers to any software that is created to harm your devices such as computers. It includes viruses, Trojan horses, and ransomware. Malware usually spreads through email attachments, messengers, or illegal websites – a phishing attack. It can steal your personal information by using fake emails or links.  

For instance, when a user accesses a bank website to use the internet banking service, a hacker can attack the website with malicious codes that redirects the user to a phishing website. So when the user inputs private banking information on the phishing website, hackers use that information to scam the user. Hackers target not only banking websites but also telecommunications websites because phishing attacks can be carried out in a variety of ways such as by requesting personal information and asking users to pay for bills that were never real, to begin with. 

For businesses, DDoS attack is known to be the most common cyberattacks targeted by hackers. It has long been one of the cyberattacks used by hackers across the globe and it can hack multiple devices at once, turn them into zombie computers, and use them to configure a network to send numerous fake requests to the target application server. By overtaking the capacity of the target server, the web service becomes paralyzed, and the target organization’s operation becomes inoperable for as long as possible.

Simply put, a DDoS attack can cause an existing service to be disrupted by continued service requests. Recently, DDoS attacks were combined with ransomware attacks – known as Ransom DDoS – and this attack method became quite popular amongst hackers in 2017 due to the WannaCry attack, which is a malicious program that locks the system or encrypts the data for ransom. Therefore, it is becoming harder and harder for companies to protect themselves in advance as it is much more complex and big in volume than before.

As cyberattacks targeting connected devices are on the rise, it is critical to acknowledge the security risks associated with connected & autonomous vehicles. Recently, there already were quite a few cyberattack incidents that specifically targeted vehicles. It only emphasized the fact that vehicles need to be vigilant because cyberattacks targeted at vehicles can lead to fatal accidents in the worst-case scenario.

Also, the nature of vehicles allows the malware to spread along with the supply chain at manufacturing plants, and such attacks are called Supply Chain Attacks. When malicious code is found in at least one of the processes in the supply chain, it can mean that an attack can adversely affect the entire manufacturing process. Recently, Toyota has completely shut down all its factories in Japan due to a cyberattack. More than 13,000 vehicles alone have suffered from production disruptions due to this one-day shutdown. A supply chain attack like this can be devastating especially for large-scale production and manufacturing companies, therefore, businesses that are in the industry need to be more cautious at all times. 

 

How to Protect Your Business from Cyberattacks

There is no such thing as 100% security in the world. Nevertheless, both individuals and businesses must pay closer attention to security solutions and invest further in security tailored to their own environments, to minimize the damage and also to recover quickly when an attack occurred. In particular, in the case of company management, it is recommended that the CEO pay more attention to security above all else and most importantly, have a security officer (CISO) within the company to clarify the responsibilities of security systems. 

 

 

For more information on security implementation, check out Penta Security’s product lines:

Web Application Firewall: WAPPLES

Database Encryption: D’Amo

Identity and Access Management: iSIGN+

Automotive, Energy, Industrial, and Urban Solutions: Penta IoT Security

For detailed inquiries, contact Penta Security’s security consulting team.