What Is a Cyber Attack?

At such times, the organization must take the necessary steps without delay. When this happens, catering to the incoming requests becomes overwhelming for the servers, resulting in the website it hosts either shut down or slow down. Use an Intrusion detection system, as they design it to detect unauthorized access to a network. This results in the attacker being able to view, edit, and delete tables in the databases. Update your passwords; this will limit your exposure to a password attack. Just a reminder that this is not an exhaustive list and that the OWASP Top-10 list should be read as well.

When there is an unauthorized system/network access by a third party, we term it as a cyber attack. The person who carries out a cyberattack is termed as a hacker/attacker. The vulnerability to this type of cyber security attack depends on the fact that SQL makes no real distinction between the control and data planes. Therefore, SQL injections work mostly if a website uses dynamic SQL. Additionally, SQL injection is very common with PHP and ASP applications due to the prevalence of older functional interfaces.

A whale-phishing attack is so-named because it goes after the “big fish” or whales of an organization, which typically include those in the C-suite or others in charge of the organization. These individuals are likely to possess information that can be valuable to attackers, such as proprietary information about the business or its operations. Reducing the risk of a cyber attack relies on using a combination of skilled security professionals, processes and technology. Man-in-the-middle, or MitM, where attackers secretly insert themselves between two parties, such as individual computer users and their financial institution.

In the U.S. alone, the average daily volume of transactions hit $3 trillion MFA and 99% of it is non-cash flow. To be able to disrupt that amount of money for one day or for a period of days can cause lasting damage making investors pull out of funding and erode public confidence. A cyberattack against the United Nations occurred in April 2021, targeting users within the UN network to further long-term intelligence gathering. The hacker was able to access their networks through stolen user credentials purchased on the dark web.

The majority of the customers targeted were U.S. based, working for IT companies or the government. The U.S. Department of Justice charged four Russian government employees involved in hacking campaigns that took place between 2012 and 2018. The hacks targeted critical infrastructure companies and organizations largely in the energy sector. The hackers sought to install backdoors and deploy malware in the operational technology of their targets.

Likewise, the personally motivated, such as disgruntled current or former employees, will take money, data or a mere chance to disrupt a company's system. Socio-political motivated attackers seek attention for their causes. As a result, they make their attacks known to the public—also known as hacktivism.

The actor responsible is still unknown, but the cyberattack led to the government extending voting by two days. The Lithuanian Defense Ministry found hidden features in popular 5G smartphone models manufactured in China, according to its state-run cybersecurity body. The module embedded in the phones detects and censors 449 keywords or groups of keywords that are counter to the message of the Chinese government. Hackers leaked data and photos from the Israeli Defense Ministry after gaining access to 165 servers and 254 websites, overall compiling around 11 terabytes of data.