It's every small business' worst nightmare. You are being targeted by a crafty and merciless cyber crook. Who knows why? Maybe your company partners with one of their longtime foes. Maybe they are a low-level hacker using your site as a testing ground of their new-found skills. Or maybe they are hell bent on destroying your company for personal acclaim. Whatever the reason, it's bad news for you, your employees and your customers.
Hacktivists and cybercriminals can be a vindictive bunch. Below we will discuss what to do if you think you are being targeted by a hacker and how a cybersecurity plan from CyberPolicy can safeguard your company from their attacks.
Hackers Do Not Forgive, Hackers Do Not Forget
There is distinct difference between receiving cyberattacks and being targeted by a cyber attacker. Every business on earth receives a certain amount of spam emails, drive-by malware downloads, automated attacks and phishing campaigns during their normal operations. While these attacks are undeniably harmful, they are usually part of a 'pray and spray' campaign by disinterested hacker trying to ensnare any target that makes a careless click.
This is not the case with more vengeful cybercriminals. They will launch every tool in their arsenal directly at your organization hoping to inflect as much damage as possible, and without the right kind of cyber planning, you could see your business go up in flames in a matter of months!
Don't Poke the Bear: Whatever you do, do not provoke the hacker. Even if you have the most robust cybersecurity measures, an especially crafty hacker can make Swiss cheese of your digital defenses. The infamous credo of the hacker group Anonymous is 'We Never Forget, We Never Forget.' Even the American government and CIA have experienced data breaches, so what chance do you have? Don't push your luck!
Boost Your DDoS Defenses: Hackers love Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks because they are easy to launch and very destructive. At its most basic level, a DDoS attack floods a website or service with so much bogus traffic, that it eventually crashes under the weight. This can sink your operations for hours, costing you big bucks in business losses. Keep in mind that cyber crooks often use short-term DDoS attacks to distract IT teams from secondary incursions. Remember this and you'll be able to protect yourself against some of the most deleterious effects of cybercrime.
Beware Social Media: Let's face it, some hackers are glory hounds. Take for example the hacker group OurMine which has taken over numerous high-profile social media accounts from Netflix, TechCrunch, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and actor Channing Tatum. While OurMine's attacks are a rather innocuous way of advertising its cybersecurity services, black hat hackers could serious damage your customer relations by posting offensive tweets or compromising information online.
Don't Get Hooked: If a hacker is gunning for your organization, you'll definitely want to keep an extra vigilant eye out for spear phishing emails. Unlike regular phishing emails, spear phishing targets specific members of your company in an effort to pilfer personal and financial information and can even be sent from accounts associated with people you know! Be careful opening attachments and links in your inbox; and never share your sign-in information with a redirect link. If you do, change all your passwords immediately.
These tips can save your business for only so long. As mentioned before, an especially determined cybercriminal will eventually get past your defenses. What then? Don't give up. Establish your safety net today by investing in a cyber insurance plan with CyberPolicy.
