Sources of Cyber Threats
Every business regardless of its nature and size is vulnerable to cyber threats. Attackers are always in search of valuable assets that businesses possess. There is no one common approach behind all cyber-attacks. Cyber threats can appear from a variety of different sources. Although the sources of cyber threats are growing with new advanced tactics, the following are some of the common sources seen everywhere:
- Phishers: Phishers works with only the motive of monetary gain and try to steal identities, credit card numbers, social security information, etc. They commonly deploy malware, spyware, and spam to conduct their criminal activities.
- Hackers: Hackers are the ones that hack into a network for some revenge, thrill of the challenge, monetary gain, stalking, political activism, and similar other reasons.
- Insiders: Insiders are the traitor employees or contractors that have access to the organization’s sensitive data. It also includes those employees that are untrained and put the organization’s data at risk due to their unintentional activity.
- Bot-network Operators: Bot-network operators use a compromised network (bot-net) to control systems remotely in order to spread spam, malware, and phishing schemes for monetary gains.
- Nations: Nations have been involved in doing cyber-attacks on their competitors or enemies. They target to disrupt military activities, communications, and other crucial services that can cause severe damage.
- Spammers: Spammers are the ones that circulate fake and unsolicited emails in an attempt to do cyber-attack on organizations, sell products, or distribute malware. Spammers can either by an individual or organization.
- Terrorists: Terrorists work with the agenda to destroy important infrastructure to weaken the economy, national security, or cause mass casualties. They usually target government organizations via malware/spyware or other phishing tactics to gain and destroy sensitive data.
- Malware Authors: Malware authors are those that work with the intention to disrupt systems, corrupt hard drives and files, and cause severe damage to the victims. They design viruses and trick the victims to install those viruses.
As the world is sinking more into technology and the internet, it is the need of time that organizations and government agencies take crucial steps and implement state-of-the-art infrastructure towards cyber threats. The first step in this effort is to know all the potential sources that are more likely to attack. Therefore, knowing the sources of cyber threats is as crucial as setting up cybersecurity plans.