The growth of information security threats upsurges as technology advances. The more threats increase, the more cautious information security should be. With this in mind, ensuring awareness of possible threats is crucial to cover vulnerabilities a system may be having.
What is a Threat?
A threat may refer to anything that can bring harm to a computer’s network or system. The extent of harm may disrupt systems and operations. Also, threats can either erase all your data or corrupt it.
Besides, since we’re talking about information security threats, then this also concerns identity theft. Software attacks serve as threats to a system. For example, this may include viruses, trojans, malware, and worms.
Top 10 Information Security Threats
Here we are jotting down the specifics of these information security threats. To effectively combat the cyber battle, awareness should be extensive. So we are uncovering the top 10 of these below.
1. The Use Of Corporate Data On Personal Devices
Many have fallen with this. Most especially in the time of the pandemic, when remote access is made more possible. May it is a corporate phone or a personal device, these IoT devices can be sources of threats.
2. Insufficient Encryption
High encryption methodologies are of utmost importance to entities handling lots of sensitive data. For example, health care industries handle up to thousands of their patients’ medical records. Thus, they’re most vulnerable to information security threats.
3. Non-technical Methods
This refers to social engineering. Criminals launch their attacks with social interaction and manipulation. As a result, leading you to disclose confidential information.
4. Outdated Software Security
One of the basics, but often one of the most neglected. This is important. Because new malicious codes cannot be detected by outdated software versions.
5. Misconfiguration
Neglecting an optimum configuration of security settings can heighten the chances of successful attacks. For example, The New York Times fell for this. When they were breached out of neglecting several critical security settings.
6. Third Parties
Reports have shown that information security threats can be sourced through weak third party security systems. For instance, cybercriminals can steal your third-party’s credentials and use them to steal your data.
7. Mobile Malware
Mobile is a necessity, especially for those who work. However, this has also been a source of catastrophe for cyberattacks. Because of its dependence on the cloud, attackers take advantage of these vulnerable devices.
8. Social Media Geographical Attacks
This is in use together with the attackers’ water holing. It is their way of launching a complex geographical attack. For example, they will infect a website that the target entity will possibly visit.
9. Weak Security
The amount of security cannot go proportionally to the amount of technology advancement. As a result, more loopholes are created for threat intrusions.
10. Insufficient Security Technology
When we say ‘inefficient’, we refer to the inefficiency of management. For instance, software that sends alerts on detected breaches is proven to be helpful. However, businesses hardly depend on the software. To the extent of neglecting their part of managing the software themselves.
