As our world grows increasingly digital, cyber crime rises, leaving millions of organisations vulnerable to threats that impact operations, financial costs, and company reputations.
Overcoming these cyber threats may seem hard, but with effective cyber security, your organisation is safe from risk. Keep reading to learn more about cyber security, the top threats and why it’s essential to implement.
What Is Cyber Security?
Cyber security is the practice of protecting IT networks, applications, systems and data from attacks, breaches and cyber threats.
Those behind these threats are commonly hackers (or ‘cyber criminals’) or employees within an organisation. Employees may maliciously or unintentionally cause security problems, leading to data breaches, financial loss and reputational damage.
A recent report highlighted that 83% of breaches involved external actors driven by financial motives. 19% of internal actors caused harm through human error or malicious activity.
Several factors determine the effectiveness of your organisation’s defense against cyber attacks. Your IT or cyber security team should implement processes, tools, and security principles that your employees adhere to.
Why Is Cyber Security Important?
Weak cyber security is detrimental to your organisation. In today’s world, everyone relies on digital solutions to work. From online banking to cloud storage services, your confidential business is just one human error away from a cyber attack.
Cyber crime is constantly rising and is expected to cost the world $10.5 trillion by 2025. This huge money-making business is ruthless and will target any industry, especially businesses vulnerable to cyber security breaches.
As such, strong security processes will minimise the risk of these attacks and avoid significant fines for a data breach. Organisations must prioritise cyber security as a board-level issue alongside their data privacy obligations and build a cyber-aware culture protecting their financial and operational activities.
What Are the Top Cyber Security Threats?
Phishing
This is a fraudulent attempt to steal sensitive data through email or text message campaigns that resemble reputable sources. Phishing is the most common cyber threat, with over 493.2 million attacks in Q3 2023 alone.
These phishing attacks will encourage users to click on harmful links asking for private data, including login credentials and credit card numbers.
Social Engineering
Social engineering is the psychology behind cyber attacks. A cyber criminal will impersonate a trusted organisation or person and encourage the victim to share sensitive information or solicit payment.
Social engineering is used in most cyber attacks, such as phishing and malware.
Malware
Malware, such as Trojan horses, rootkits, spyware and ransomware, is a software programme that infiltrates a computer, service or network settings. Malware is used to steal data, destroy files and cause irreparable damage.
Ransomware
Ransomware is malicious software that holds an organisation’s files or computer system ransom until money is exchanged. Ransomware is extortion and sometimes does not guarantee the victim will have their systems recovered afterwards.
Want to learn more? Head to our blog on cyber threats and learn how to protect your organisation.
Protect Your Organisation With Cyber Security Support
Data Protection People have a wealth of experience in data privacy and cyber security. We offer reliable cyber security support and expert consultancy to keep threats at bay. Contact our team to learn more about our solutions today.