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What is a Cyber Attack?
Cyberattacks are attacks launched from one or more computers against another computer, multiple computers or networks. Cyberattacks are divided into two broad categories:
- Attacks that aim to disable the target computer or knock it offline
- Attacks that aim to get access to the target computer’s data and possibly gain admin privileges on it.
Cyberattacks are politically or socially motivated attacks executed mainly via the Internet. These attacks target national and corporate organizations or the general public and are launched by spreading malicious programs (viruses), fake websites, unauthorized web access, and several other means of stealing institutional or personal information from targets of attacks, causing extensive damage.
Protect Yourself from These Seven Deadly Cyberattacks
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- Denial-of-Service (DoS)
A DoS attack aims at disrupting the service to a network. Huge volumes of traffic or data are sent by the attackers via the network until the network becomes flooded and fails to function. The distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is the most common way through which attackers can achieve DoS attacks. In this attack, the attacker employs multiple computers to send the data or traffic that will overload the system. Mostly, individuals fail to notice that their computers have been hijacked, but their PCs are actually contributing to the DDoS attack. - Phishing
Phishing attacks mostly pose as a request for data from a trusted third party. These attacks are sent through email and ask users to click on a link and enter their personal details. In recent years, phishing emails have become more sophisticated, making it tough for some people to separate a genuine request for information from a false one. Phishing emails mostly fall into the same category as spam but are considered to be more harmful than just a simple ad. Phishing emails come with a link that directs the user to a fake site that will steal their personal information. There are also in which a user will just have to click on the link. - Malware
Malware or malicious software is used for damaging, disabling, manipulating or otherwise corrupting a computer, system, or device. There are different types of malware, including ransomware, adware, worms, viruses, Trojans, and other software designed to compromise a system. After getting successfully installed, malware is capable of doing anything from stealing data to displaying unwanted pop-up ads and locking you out of your own PC. - Ransomware
This is actually a type of malware capable of locking a user out of their computer system until a ransom is paid. After getting installed via a phishing email or text, the ransomware encrypts all or some of a user’s files, leaving behind a note that explains to the users how he/she can get their data back, typically by making a payment to an anonymous wallet address via Bitcoin. - Man-in-the-middle
A man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack deals with a criminal secretly intercepting communication between two parties and “eavesdropping” on the transaction. It is also possible for the attacker to interfere with the transaction by swapping the data payload from one party with malicious code. The attacker will have to impersonate each endpoint of the transaction. A MITM generally gains access via a non-encrypted wireless access point. The attacker would then have access to all the information being transferred between both parties. - Malvertising
This attack refers to a way of compromising your computer with malicious code that is downloaded to your system when you click on an affected ad. Cyber attacker use an ad network to upload infected display ads to varied sites. This is then followed by the ads getting distributed to sites that match specific keywords and search criteria. Some type of malware will be downloaded after a user clicks on one of these ads. Any web publisher or website can be subjected to malvertising, and many fail to even notice that they have been compromised. - Injection attacks
Injection attacks tale place when data entered into an application tricks it into implementing a malicious command, often to access protected data. One well-known example of this is SQL injection (SQLi) in which a hacker inputs a malicious SQL command into a form or field on a website, thus allowing the attacker to have back-end access. However, SQL is not the only language that can be exploited; injection attacks can also be conducted in similar ways using a number of languages, including LDAP, NoSQL, XML, and XPath.
- Denial-of-Service (DoS)
Install Comodo Antivirus to Protect Yourself from Cyberattacks
Get supreme protection from any type of cyberattack with Comodo’s award-winning Antivirus. Comodo Antivirus is available with reliable security features making it one of the best antivirus software in the IT security industry. Choosing this software helps successfully protect against:
- Botnets: Prevents malicious software from turning your computer into a zombie and from being used in DDoS attacks.
- Malware: Kills malicious processes before they can harm your computer and compromise it.
- Zero-Day Exploits: Predicts even the unpredictable malware and stops them from invading your computers and infecting them.
- Spyware: Identifies spyware threats and destroys each infection even before it can expose your details to the hacking community.
- Rootkit: Scans, detects and removes rootkits on your computer, prohibiting them from taking over your computers.
Some of the security features provided by this virus protection software from Comodo include:
- Host Intrusion Prevention System (HIPS)
Potential to comprehensively monitor your computer and prevent the entry of malicious attacks. It makes use of a ‘set of behavior analyzers’ to execute the search. - VirusScope
This technology is useful for local PC analysis and helps PC users to undo malicious-looking changes which PC(s) might have recorded as a result of malicious actors. - Efficient Whitelisting
Potential to mark specific files as trustworthy and give them default access. - Cloud-based Behavior Analysis – Valkyrie
With the increase in zero-day malware, the need for a cloud-based behavior analysis system capable of keeping up with the various latest malware is quite important. - Default Deny Approach
This approach prevents all files by default from entering the system until they prove themselves to be harmless. - Containment
This technology backs the default deny approach by ‘containing’ or ‘restraining’ files and running them in a separate environment, until they prove themselves to be harmless, without affecting your computer’s security.
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