Importance of Cyber Security Globally

We live in an incredible digitally connected world. We spend our half of the total daytime on social media, games, trading, online transaction and even much more. Every time we connect to the internet, our data is visible to hackers because we are ignoring basic security instructions. There are many reasons for cyber-attacks like inadequate technology, lack of security education, accessing insecure website and portals. In today's era when we are managing our 70% of the data over the internet, we should care about cyber security, whether it is commercial business or residential household.

Internet-based industry such as e-commerce, banking, traveling, insurance and cloud-based is giving high priority to the cyber security. However, companies also accept their safety does not reach to optimum level because they lack of proper security related education in their organization. According to ITRC (Identity Theft Resource Center) report, until July 2016, there were more than 522 data breaches. The report also states that data breach is now diversifying into different sectors such as federal agencies, healthcare, and telecom. Many popular companies such as Centene, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Seagate and Internal Revenue Service are the notable examples of data breach in the USA. Such data breaches cause loss of personal information like Name, Contact Number, Social Security Number and ID cards on a large scale. In 2016, the total cost of cybercrime reached to $450 billion globally. There are various types of cybercrime attacks used by cybercriminals for various purposes such as data breach, vulnerability and much more. The major cyber-attacks are.

1. Cyber Fraud
2. Malware Attacks
3. Social Engineering Attacks
4. Technical Attacks
5. Vulnerability Exploitation
6. Login Attacks

#1. Cyber Fraud Cyber fraud is a process where cybercriminal tries to steal your money, personal, property and financial information. There are different types of cyber fraud such as Phishing attacks, Spear Phishing attacks, unauthorized disclosure, and Whaling.

#2. Malware Attacks

in this type of attack, the malware comes from specific files such as .exe source and adware. The virus activates just after you open the file and in cases, malware file download on your PC without your authorized approval.

#3. Social Engineering Attacks

This attack is currently popular because it targets mainly to non-technical person through the phone internet call such as Skype. They present themselves as company authorized or technical support guys and asked for your personal information such as name number and Ids for regular database updates.

#4. Technical Attacks

Mainly target Organization technical systems such as Database, DNS, and outdated software. There are different types of Technical Attacks that hackers are using and DOS attacks are one of the well-known types, where attacker disrupts the internet usage of the user. Web Page Defacing is a type of attack where a hacker breaks the web page security and change to page visibility such as design and text to warn the owner about the lower level of data security.

#5. Vulnerability Exploitation

Make sure you get your software update from authorized source, because most of the vulnerability attacks come with software updates. In Vulnerability attacks, hackers inject the code in the program, and when the user tries to run that program, the hackers get their desired result.

#6. Login Attacks

Such attacks directly target your personal accounts such as email, bank and social media platforms. Some common login attacks are brute force, password cracking and oAuth exploits. The hackers mainly target large firms such as Google, Microsoft and Sony. Therefore, such companies have some strong organization security rules for their employees. But it doesn't mean small and medium firms are safe. Every organization must set some strict rules to avoid major security threats. Below are some common security rules that every company must follow.

1. Keep your necessary software and system up to date.
2. Create an internal policy to avoid using external drive such as pen drive, memory card or external hard disk with informing technical person. Also block certain website such a free software download, free shareware, and spam sites responsible cyber-attacks.
3. Cloud service is adopted by many companies because cloud service is cost efficient and easy to access from anywhere.
4. Educate your employee about cyber threats and how you can avoid malware downloads.
5. Encourage your employee to use a secure password (alphanumeric, symbol) and change after a period.

Cyber security is a prime issue and must require a specialization to tackle sophisticated cyber threats. The security person must think out of the technical details and should aware to latest cyber-attacks and data breach methods and provide efficient solution to overcome these issue. The Organization responsibility is to set some important policy to avoid entrance of virus and malware through small storage devices like Pen drive and Memory Card. Keeping an eye on cyber security is the only possible solution to prevent cybercrime.