Cyberattacks can paralyze your business’s operations. After all, that’s usually one of the attackers’ objectives, the other being extortion. There are many forms of cyberattacks, namely:
- Malware
- Ransomware
- Viruses
- Trojans
- Phishing
- Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), etc.
Notably, each of these types is getting more and more sophisticated by the day. So much so that the attackers are emboldened.
For instance, reports have surfaced of cyber attackers calling victims who restore data affected by ransomware from backup storage. They seemingly treat business operations with reckless abandon, not to mention some sort of casualness that perhaps should send signals to companies to invest heavily in cybersecurity.
But companies don’t have to deal with the issue of cybersecurity alone. Realizing the industry’s needs, firms specialized in offering solutions dealing with cyberattacks, thereby enhancing cybersecurity, have come up.
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Importance of Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity focuses on protecting your company’s computer-based infrastructure and information stored therein from unauthorized access, modification, or deletion. As more and more company operations and activities are digitized and are migrated online, more avenues open up that attackers could target.
Effects of a Cyberattack
An attack of any kind is disastrous. It puts information such as pricing information, intellectual property (designs and patents), financial details, and databases containing info about clients and suppliers at risk of unauthorized access.
When attackers get a hold of this info, they could extort money from your business or even leak the information if their demands are not met. They could even target your suppliers and clients since they have their data.
As if that’s not enough, these attacks could lock you and your colleagues out of the company’s network, thereby rendering you helpless. Moreover, any news about such a breach of security can damage your reputation, not to mention the resources required to recover the data or replace affected equipment.
However, all these adverse effects can be avoided, emphasizing the benefits of cybersecurity. To put it simply, the importance of cybersecurity lies in helping companies avoid the disastrous impacts of cyberattacks.
Benefits of Cybersecurity
The benefits of cybersecurity are the exact opposite of the effects detailed above. They include:
- It protects company information and computer-based equipment.
- It safeguards the brand’s reputation.
- It protects against financial losses.
Cybersecurity Challenges
However, cybersecurity is not easy; neither is it a one-off endeavor. Attackers are consistently improving their craft. As a matter of fact, each year is often described as the worst year ever due to increased cyberattacks that are also sophisticated. The attackers clearly outdo themselves every time.
For this reason, it’s not a bed of roses, even for cybersecurity companies. They face several challenges, among them:
Company and Technological Expansion
Companies are increasing their product lines and growing exponentially by also offering services online. Some of these products, e.g., driverless cars and smart devices, increase the exposure of elements and systems previously present in the physical world only to the risk of attacks.
How so? Well, these driverless cars and smart devices have to communicate via the internet or intranet. This creates an overlap of communication channels, which can be exploited since these channels present new avenues for cyberattackers.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
As the cybersecurity industry is looking into using AI and ML to combat attacks, attackers are also implementing them in their attacking strategies. Notably, AI and ML involve creating models that probe deficiencies in behavioral patterns or systems, which they then document or remedy. xxx
If the insufficiencies are detected on the cybersecurity side of the spectrum, they are remedied. However, if attackers find them first, your system becomes toast, as it were, because they can utilize these deficiencies to execute attacks.
Increased use of Cloud Infrastructure
Companies have realized how much they could save, in terms of maintenance and management costs, if they transferred data from their in-house servers (legacy data centers) to the cloud. However, such a transfer requires the correct configuration and robust security measures to be successful, failure to which attackers could find an avenue to exploit.
Fortunately, cybersecurity proxies, firewalls, virtual private networks (VPN), and multi-factor authentication can be used to protect the infrastructure and enhance security.
Network Security
Attackers use a company’s network to gain access to its computer-based infrastructure. Thus, any form of negligence can be disastrous. Fortunately, cybersecurity proxies and other network security tools exist.
Use of Proxies to Promote Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity companies use proxy servers for various reasons. Firstly, cybersecurity proxies route web requests through themselves and assign new IP addresses, essentially masking the real identity. The routing process adds privacy, anonymity, and security since it complicates any attempt to track data from the company’s network or systems.
Secondly, cybersecurity proxies go a step further by recording web traffic and scanning the network for any vulnerability. As such, they identify any threat before it evolves into a security breach. If you’re interested in using proxies for cybersecurity, we suggest you check out the Oxylabs website for more information.