Whether you run a little shoe shop in the corner of town or a fast-food franchise in a motorway service station, almost every small business and non-profit nowadays relies on computers and ICT.
These rapid advances in technology give everyone the chance to grow at a pace previously unheard of. However, the rewards that new technology brings come with a new set of risks that all employers and employees should know.
As a small business, church or charity, you might not be sure what a cyberattack looks like. That’s okay – it’s perfectly understandable! We’ve put this short article together explaining the anatomy of a cyberattack to help you get up to speed.
What is a cyberattack?
A cyberattack is an invasion of a business’ virtual property to steal, damage or destroy.
There are a few different types of cyberattacks to be aware of.
Usually, criminals (hackers) try to get their hands on financial or personal data, or information about customers, suppliers, staff or systems. Modern cybercriminal organisations run as businesses, with the end objective of making money by any means necessary. That could include selling personal information, removing money from a bank account or gaining access to a staff member’s personal details to open a credit card in their name.
Some cyberattacks might freeze a company’s software or prevent access to its databases. The hackers might then demand a certain amount of money to release the programs back into the business owner’s control.
What are some different types of cyberattacks?
Here are some of the most common types of cyberattacks:
Malware– malware stands for ‘malicious software’. It’s basically any dangerous downloadable content and usually gets into systems through email scams, risky links and fake websites. Malware usually consists of:
- Ransomware – extorts money by preventing you from using your system
- Spyware – secretly watches your movements and gathers information
- Virus – corrupts a system, making it unusable or do something unexpected, often sending data somewhere else, like to the criminal
- Worm – self-replicates quickly to spread through other computers and systems
DDoS – a Distributed Denial of Service attack overloads a computer system, preventing it providing the service its supposed to because it is swapped with the attack traffic
Phishing – your typical ‘email from the bank’ (but not) telling you to enter your credit card details. These are unsolicited but look genuine. Phishing attacks trick you into giving hackers your information
SQL Injection – hackers gain access to the backend database of an internet facing service by placing a specially crafted string of characters into a user data entry form on a website
Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) – this is a bit like when you could listen to your neighbour’s conversations by picking up your telephone in an old-fashioned landline system – in this case you think you are browsing to your banks website (for example) but it’s actually a clone of your banks website that is passing the information to and from your banks actual website but seeing everything you do.
What does a cyberattack look like?
Without any kind of security, the first sign of a cyberattack might be when certain files go missing or can’t be accessed or the system seems notably slower. In many cases, the absence of firewalls and encryption could mean someone never even knows they’ve been hacked.
However, a business can be alerted as soon as a threat emerges, with efficient security measures. Advanced software will scan every link you click, for example, and prevent you from opening anything containing malware. Firewalls will alert you as soon as there’s any trace of a cyberattack.
Unfortunately, one cyber breach can often lead to another, and the first successful attack is often used as a beach head for more. That’s why, if you’ve ever been hacked and then scan the compromised device with something like MalwareBytes, you tend to find many different pieces of malicious software. In many instances, the point of the other malware is to enable the re-installation of the original malware if it is removed. Once the first device is compromised, the attacker wants to move on to other targets within an organisation. Malware that replicates might get them access to your finance or HR systems, enable them to download sensitive documents and even compromise the other devices on the same subnet.
While it’s sadly true that even the very best firewalls can’t protect against everything, the more up-to-date and advanced your security measures are, the greater your chances of repelling a cyberattack.
How do I avoid cyberattacks?
As with most problems we face, prevention is the best cure. Hackers can do untold damage to businesses and non-profit organisations in many ways. By investing in good cybersecurity, you can do your bit to help keep your company running smoothly. The cost of this security is often far less than the potential cost of a severe cyberattack.
Engaging a professional ICT company to provide you with protection against cyberattacks is the best way to avoid them. Of course, if you know your way around computers, cybersecurity and cloud-based systems, feel free to set things up yourself. For the average organisation, though, we’d recommend using an established, trusted individual or company to set your firewalls up.
There are two ways you could go about this:
- Hiring a third party to run your cybersecurity
- Starting an ICT department within your organisation by employing a few individuals (depending on your business’ size)
Cyber Essentials best practice
The threat of cyberattacks remains very real and widespread in the UK.
To raise awareness of the problem and equip small businesses with the skills they need to protect themselves against most common cyberattacks, the National Cyber Security Centre introduced the Cyber Essentials initiative.
The Government-backed scheme provides businesses with the tools they need to protect their data, networks and digital assets from cyberattack.
It has been developed to provide a basic cyber-security standard for business.
Aside from the measures mentioned above, employers and each and every staff member can follow Cyber Essentials guidance and take simple steps to keep hackers from gaining access to their systems. These best practices include:
Boundary firewalls and internet gateways – ensure your organisation’s perimeter is properly secured and that only necessary traffic is allowed to and from the internet
Secure configuration – ensure all new devices are configured securely and not left with their insecure initial ‘as delivered’ configuration
Access control – ensure all accounts are appropriately secured with user specific usernames and passwords, privileged accounts should be further secured with multifactor authentication (MFA)
Malware protection – ensure your organisation is using antivirus and host firewall on all laptops and PCs and has some means of ensuring that mobile devices are not rooted and can install software only from trusted sources.
Patch management – ensure the latest OS and software patches have been applied and that a plan exists to ensure future patches are applied in a timely manner
While Cyber Essentials doesn’t include backup (the NCSC explains why here), if a malware attack succeeds, then the only realistic option for recovery is to have a backup. So, it’s vital that in addition to the above, your organisation at least thinks about backup, and you decide not to use a dedicated backup solution, that it’s a decision made consciously rather than just assuming your platforms and services are impervious to attack.
How can AMDH Services Ltd help?
Here at AMDH Services, we’re passionate about helping you protect yourselves against cyberattacks. We believe in supporting all our clients’ ongoing successes and always take extra measures to help you run your SME, church or charity as effectively as possible.
If you’d like, we can act as an external ICT Director consultant to help you plan your cybersecurity. All our staff are experienced, well-trained and love helping provide you with support as you continue your digital transformation journey.
To get in touch with us, feel free to give us a ring on 01332 322 588. Alternatively, head on over to the Contact page of our website and fill out the form. We’ll be sure to get back to you as soon as we can!
