What are the different types of cybercrimes?
Before investing in the right tools to protect your sensitive information and defend your computers, tablets, smartphones, and other technology, the first line of defense is to understand the most prevalent types of cybercrimes.
Phishing and Spear Phishing
Hackers steal sensitive data like credit card and login information by sending fraudulent email messages that appear to come from a reputable source. They’re sent in the form of mass emails and often contain poor spelling and grammar, as well as false links that can spread malicious software, allowing the hacker access to an individual’s computer. Spear phishing is a more targeted scheme in which attackers infiltrate by using a familiar email address belonging to a person, organization or business known to the victim.
Malware
Short for “malicious software,” malware is one of the biggest threats on the internet and disguises itself as a file or code that breaches a network through a vulnerability, such as when a user clicks on a harmful link or email attachment. Once inside your system, the software can act as ransomware that blocks access, spyware that secretly steals information and then grants remote access to predators, as well as viruses and worms that can severely disrupt your system and render it inoperable.
Man-in-the-Middle-Attack (MitM)
Also known as “eavesdropping attacks,” MitM attacks occur when hackers intercept the communications between two systems that are directly communicating with each other. Once they’ve inserted themselves in the middle unnoticed, they interrupt traffic, filter and steal data. Public Wi-Fi networks present hackers with prime opportunities to access information.
Denial-of-Service Attack
This malicious tactic enables the attacker to disrupt the normal access of an online service and render it temporarily or permanently unavailable. It overwhelms the system with traffic so that it can’t respond to standard requests. A larger-scale version of this is a distributed-denial-of-service attack, which attempts to compromise multiple systems by sending simultaneous data requests to a central server.
Structured Query Language (SQL) Injection
In this cybercrime, a hacker performs a SQL injection by seeking out a vulnerable website and then running destructive SQL queries against the database server, subsequently revealing sensitive information.
Zero-day Exploit
An especially opportunistic form of an attack, a zero-day exploit targets a software system when it’s at its weakest point – the day a network vulnerability is announced but has not yet been patched.
Social Engineering
Social engineering is the act of obtaining personal information, like a mother’s maiden name, first school attended, birth date, address and banking institution of choice, by skimming the individual’s publicly available social media profiles. High net worth individuals are particularly susceptible to this scheme because they’re active on social media and devote a significant amount of their time to networking. Seventy percent of ultra high-net-worth investors (those with $5 to $25 million in investable assets) use some form of social media, and this figure crosses generations, with the young and old equally engaged. Once they have access to personal information, cyber criminals can essentially execute a virtual kidnapping scheme.
Cybercrimes evolve over time and vary in threat level, but what remains consistent is the urgency to better understand them. Contact a HUB specialist to learn more about what is available to protect you, your family and assets.
