How to Prevent a Possible Cyber Attack


How to Prevent a Possible Cyber Attack
Overview-
“. . . A cyber attack may be inevitable.”-Richard Power. In the past few years, security breaches and cyber crimes have seen a sudden rise. This grave threat looms even over big giants like Reckitt Benckiser, Mars INC, WPP, Adobe, Yahoo, etc. World of Hell (2001), Red October (2012), Petya Cyber Attack (2017), etc have been major trouble makers.We all remember the terror created by WannaCry Ransome attack (2017) that had victimised more than 300,000 computers. Moreover, the motive of most of these cyber attacks is to access information and breach privacy. You have no options to fall back on if you have no counter-plan to such cyber attack. Therefore, in this article, we talk about the possible ways on How to Prevent a Possible Cyber Attack.

Image Courtesy- Wikipedia
What is a Cyber Attack?
Cyber Crime comes under the category of crime of the cyberspace, where networks and computer systems are used. These can be done with the intention of either just harming or as far as complete destruction of the systems of the victim individuals or organizations. When these cyber crime stretch to extremes like the international boundaries, cross-border crimes, and government systems, it becomes a cyber warfare.
Then, Cyber Security or IT Security is the protection of computer systems from such damage and destruction. The targetted parts might be the hardware, software or the information the computer possesses.
A Cyber Attack is basically a malicious and offensive attempt/attack by hackers to damage or completely destroy a computer system, belonging to individuals or organizations. The cyber campaign, cyber warfare or cyber terrorism are all synonyms for cyber attacks.
These hackers are either professional hackers, the ones who have been employed by the governments to work for them, or unethical hackers aka cyber terrorists. The professional hackers follow a given a set of code and conduct. On the other hand, the cyber terrorists work independently on their own set of rules of destruction and damage, where governments and civilians are targetted likewise.
What leads to a Cyber Attack?
The procedure for a cyber attack is that the hackers find computer systems that are vulnerable due to lack of appropriate security systems.Then, the hackers infect the victim computer system with their own codes, that can then manipulate the functioning of those computers. Through this, they then gain access to the information and working of that system.There are majorly
There are majorly three factors behind cyber attacks. They are-
Fear Factor
It works exactly like terrorism works. Fear is the major weapon to get demands and claims fulfilled. For this reason, especially, cyber crime is often referred to as cyber terrorism.
Spectacular Factor
Under the Spectacular factor comes the part where the consequence of the cyber attack surface. It includes damages like the direct losses to the organization, bad publicity, and hampering of the company name.
Vulnerability Factor
The Vulnerability Factor, as the name suggests, functions on how vulnerable the person or the organization is to the potential cyber attack.It is associated with the harm the attack can cause to the reputation, working, and branding of the company.
It also depends on the lack of security systems on the victim computer systems. As a defense strategy, many governmental institutions are attacking their enemies through the cyber attacks. Since, “Cyber War is the new battlefield.”, he Indian governmental institutions have been battling it out with China for quite some time now.
What are the kinds of Cyber Attacks?
There are two broad categories of cyber attacks, namely syntactic and semantic attacks. They work in the form of emails, updates, software, etc.
Syntactic Attacks
The Synctatic attack is malicious in nature. It is a product of evil and destructing intentions.They include Viruses, Worms, and Trojan Horses. A virus once infected into the target system, self-multiplies by attaching itself to another program. A worm works on self-multiplication independently, that without the need of a program. Lastly, the Trojan Horse can be a combination of both viruses and worms.
Semantic Attacks
A semantic attack is not malicious in nature, like the syntactic because it does not involve viruses. The semantic attack works as a combination of right and wrong information. It is then, injected into the target system. The aim is to confuse the opponent and throw him off his path.
What are the consequences of a Cyber Attack?
A cyber attack has the potential to destabilize the whole nation, economically and otherwise. The reason behind this strong statement is that the major targets of such cyber attacks are infrastructures, energy sources, transportation systems, finance and security systems, water, nuclear resources, etc.
Then, How does Cyber Security come into play?
So, Cyber Security or IT Security is the protection of computer systems from such damage and destruction. The targetted parts might be the hardware, software or the information the computer possesses. All unauthorized access, use, disclosure and disruption, modification and inspection, recording or destruction of information is discouraged and prevented under cyber security. It covers not only computers but also smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc. The task of these info-security specialists is to keep all vital information and devices, away from the scanner of the hackers.

Image Courtesy- Wikipedia
Moreover, information security provides Information Assurance too. So, you don’t lose data during adversary. Furthermore, they also assure integrity and confidentiality of information.
Possible ways to prevent a Cyber Attack-
The possible means to avert a cyber attack primarily works on the Information security. Security of information, as well as your systems, should be your utmost priority. No one is safe from these cyber attacks.Since precaution is better than cure, individuals and organizations should adopt the following in times of risk-
threat assessment, i.e. know your risks
analyze your vital data and their value
classification and categorization of information, ie managing data better
keep your data encrypted
vulnerability assessment, ie know when and where you fall vulnerable
keep your systems secure with antivirus protection
limit exposure of information and devices to a lot of people
calculation of the potential impact an attack might cause
plan cope-up strategies with the infosec department
measuring the effectiveness of measures
Conclusion:
And no one wants to be a victim of cyber attacks. For that, you need to be thorough with Cyber Security, that enables you to fight crimes of the cyberspace. Moreover, now is the time when, cyber security is shifting towards being a part of the National Security of most nations, which have realized the need of the hour. You should learn from this too. Antivirus protected devices are strong enough to avert cyber attacks.
Also, have a look at these interesting readings on Product Development and Best Bitcoin Wallets.
