Along with the rapid development of technology and the internet, the threat of cybercrime is increasing. To protect yourself from various cyber attacks, you need to know the most commonly used cyber-attacks.
Cyber security is becoming increasingly important. This is because, currently, computers and computer networks are increasing in people’s daily lives.
Taking steps to protect it, including the information it contains, is even more critical because a successful attack would jeopardize the subject’s life. Likewise, the number of cyber attacks, otherwise known as cyberattacks, is increasing.
What is Cyber Attacks?
A cyber attack is any attempt to gain unauthorized access to a computer, computer system, or computer network to cause harm.
Cyber attacks aim to disable, interfere with, destroy, or control computer systems or modify, intercept, delete, manipulate, or steal data stored in these systems.
Cyber attacks can be carried out from anywhere by any individual or group using one or more attack strategies.
Those who carry out cyber attacks are generally considered cyber criminals. Furthermore, cybercriminals are also known as bad actors, threat actors, and hackers.
They act alone, using their computer skills to design and execute cyber-attacks.
They can also be part of a criminal organization, working with other threat actors to find weaknesses or problems in computer systems that can be exploited for criminal purposes.
Government-funded groups of computer experts have also carried out cyber attacks. They have been identified as attackers by nations and accused of attacking other governments’ information technology (IT) infrastructure, as well as non-governmental organizations, such as corporations, non-profit organizations, and public services.
Type of Cyber Attacks
You should be aware of many common and important types of cyber attacks.
1. Malware
The first type of cyber attack that often occurs is malware. This word must be familiar to your ears, right?
Malware is a type of virus that is delivered to a computer or system. This virus can delete essential documents stored in databases or even stolen ones.
Malware attacks can occur if you visit a malicious website. Any website with a “not secure” sign at the top means its security system has not been strengthened. This can be an opportunity for cybercriminals to spread dangerous viruses.
2. Ransomware
Ransomware is malware that targets hardware devices to gain valuable information about the target and then encrypts and locks files.
If the victim wants to open or reaccess the data, the perpetrator will demand a ransom from the victim. If the victim does not meet the requirements, the perpetrator does not hesitate to threaten that the data cannot be used.
This type of cybercrime often targets home technology users with low technology understanding. The main goal of ransomware attacks is to blackmail victims into paying a certain amount to access encrypted files.
3. Worms
Worms differ from viruses because they are not attached to the host’s file but are independent programs that spread through networks and computers. Worms are often spread via email attachments.
Opening the attachment will activate the worm program. Worm exploits usually involve the worm sending a copy of itself to every contact on the infected computer’s email address.
In addition to carrying out malicious activity, internet worms and backup email servers can cause a denial of service attacks against network nodes.
4. Trojan Horses
Trojans are malware that misrepresents itself to appear valid. They spread by looking like regular software and trick victims into installing it.
Trojans are considered one of the most dangerous types of malware, as they are often designed to steal financial information.
5. Drive-by Attack
Drive-by attacks are a standard method for spreading malware. Cyber crime looks for unsafe websites and embeds malicious scripts in PHP or HTTP on one of the pages.
These scripts can install malware on the visiting website’s computer or become a <iframe> that redirects the victim’s browser to a website controlled by the hacker.
In most cases, these scripts are obfuscated, making it difficult for security researchers to analyze the code. This attack is called drive-by because it requires no action from the victim except visiting the compromised website.
When they visit a compromised website, they are automatically and silently infected if their computer is vulnerable to malware, especially if they do not apply security updates to the malware application.
6. Cracking
Cracking is a forced attempt to enter a computer system by hacking software or computer security systems for illegal purposes that lead to crime.
Hackers perform their actions to steal, display, and manipulate data to spread malware. Various types of hacks often occur, such as password hacks, software hacks, and network hacks.
7. Phishing
Phishing is an example of cybercrime that aims to steal personal information and data from emails, telephones, text messages, or links posing as agents or parties.
The way phishing works is to recognize the target with tricks that look normal even though they don’t know that their personal data is being stolen.
Fraudsters target sensitive victim data, such as passwords, credit card information, email addresses, and one-time passwords (OTP). The stolen data is used for crimes like theft, identity theft, and extortion.
8. Spoofing
Spoofing is disguising information as if acting as an authority, such as a bank or government, for the purpose of cybercrime.
Similar to phishing which steals victim data, the difference is that spoofing not only steals data but, in some cases, also delivers malware to the victim’s device or website.
Several types of spoofing exist, from identity theft, IP address spoofing, and DNS spoofing to website spoofing.
9. Man in the middle (MitM)
MitM (man in the middle) attack intercepts communications between two parties. It makes it appear as if the two parties are communicating directly with each other when in reality, the communication is passing through the hacker.
It is often said that one is vulnerable to MitM attacks on public Wi-Fi.
10. Carding
Carding is the crime of stealing other people’s credit card information. The perpetrators use this data to make transactions or withdraw card balances to their accounts.
There are two forms of carding. The first is Card Present. Namely, data theft is carried out by the EDC card reader at the cashier/transaction location.
The second is Card Non-present, stealing data by accessing the internet, often using phishing emails or hacks to get credit card owner data.
11. Data Falsification
Data forgery is tampering with essential document data stored as unscripted documents over the internet. These documents are usually owned by institutions or institutions with web database sites.
Data abuse often targets e-commerce documents by making it appear as if a “typo” has occurred, which benefits the perpetrator because the victim will enter personal data and credit card numbers that can be misused.
12. Forgery of Identity
Identity forgery is an example of cybercriminals to watch out for. The perpetrators illegally used fake identities for criminal purposes.
13. OTP scam
OTP, or One-Time Password, is a temporary code that functions as a one-time password to complete the verification process on the smartphone application.
As its popularity grew, so did the threat of cybercriminals trying to steal OTPs. OTP scams are used for various crimes, such as compromising accounts and making unauthorized financial transactions.
To avoid OTP code scams, never share your OTP with anyone, whether you know it or not. Also, enable two-factor authentication and always be on the lookout for dubious links.