The present-day society is becoming incredibly digitized. This is, for all intents of purpose, a very positive trend since digital tech does a great job of making our lives more streamlined. One of the reasons behind the ongoing golden age of startups is exactly the access to the same digital resources across the board.
However, the transition of this magnitude inevitably attracts new perils that, in this case, come in the form of the immense growth of cybercrime. According to a recent survey, the global cyber security damage last year accounted for $16.4 billion a day.
These facts put a lot of pressure on your development team to deliver products that will be able to actually protect newfound startups from all these perils. Let us take a look then at some of the most common threats where they should focus their efforts.
Cryptojacking
Despite endless crashes and fluctuations, the popularity of digital currencies doesn’t seem to slow down. This ongoing surge will cause countless hackers to try to breach defenses, embed various malicious scripts in the company’s IT infrastructure, and start using it to mine cryptocurrencies. Even though these attacks may sound benign enough you have to keep in mind that mining is a very taxing process that consumes a huge amount of energy and practically renders the IT resources useless. Although one of the newest threats, crypto-jacking quickly became one of the worst so put it as one of your team’s top priorities.
Ransomware
This form of threat is, in its nature, very similar to the crypto-jacking we have described above. In this case, though, instead of using your IT resources for mining the digital currencies, the attackers will hold these assets for ransom until you agree to pay some demanded price. This threat should not be easily disregarded since the average damage caused by such attacks now sits at $1.4 million. Even though these figures mark a nearly $500,000 drop from 2020, we are still talking about the expenses that can easily close the doors of even the biggest legal entities. So, make sure the developers approach it with all due caution.
Data breach
This is, by far one of the oldest and one of the most common online threats the companies ever had to deal with. In the simplest of terms, a data breach represents brute force attacks where hackers try to access the information they are not supposed to and then use this data for other malpractices. This is especially troubling for the company’s clients who often need to put out their personal data to be able to perform some activities like online payments. That is why the companies should put all efforts into getting an SSL certificate and take other necessary steps to make sure their clients’ personal data is protected.
DDoS attacks
If you are unfamiliar with the term, DDoS stands for Distributed Denial of Service and describes the form of attack where the attacker overwhelms the company’s resources with so much traffic that the entire infrastructure eventually crashes and needs to shut down. The most dangerous thing about this peril is that DDoS attacks are very similar to regular user activity so building up the defenses that will be able to discern the hacker attacks. Fortunately, a healthy dose of server redundancy can go a long way in solving this problem. Monitoring network traffic and improving network security can do no harm either.
Exploiting common security weaknesses
The companies starting out tend to cut a lot of corners hoping that their low profile will keep them safe from hacker attacks. This assumption is, of course, entirely unfounded since the previous year, at least 61% of small and medium businesses have reported being victims of some sort of cybercrime. In most cases, the hackers were able to exploit the absence of even the most basic security measures like two-factor authentication, lack of data encryption, mismanagement of user privileges, and so on. If they are to create a successful product, your IT team needs to take these basic threats very seriously.
End user liability
Last but not least, we have to point out that, when all is said and done, the people who are using some app or website are, ultimately, its greatest liability. Unfortunately, this is the area where the development team can do the least to ensure the security of the end product. But, the apps can utilize some form of a tutorial that will cast the light on common security threats and responsible practices. Also, the IT development team could host a couple of seminars that will introduce the company’s staff to some of the threats like phishing. Such practices can go a long way in improving the company’s overall security.
So there you have it – the top six threats your IT team needs to take into consideration to ensure that the product they make will ensure the end user’s best interests. For better or for worse, our society is moving in the digital direction at nothing short of a lightning pace. The speed and scale of this evolution produce too many liabilities along the way. But, knowing where the trap makes the first step in avoiding it. And, now, you have an excellent place to start dealing with these threats.
The HR Tech Weekly® 