Cyber threats are constantly evolving. According to the Cloudflare Cybersecurity readiness survey 2024, about 47% respondents report experiencing more than ten breaches in the past 12 months! As technology progresses, cyber attacks are becoming more sophisticated.
Here’s an unfortunate truth: not every attack makes the headlines. While most businesses are aware of high-profile breaches and well-known threats like malware, there’s a far more dangerous category that lies under the radar: overlooked cyber threats.
Read on as we discuss some of the hidden cyber threats businesses overlook – and why they shouldn’t.
Phishing
Considering that the first phishing attack occurred in the mid-1990’s, it’s safe to say that isn’t a new threat. However, it has evolved into a highly deceptive weapon that many businesses still underestimate.
Phishing attacks no longer conform to the absurd stereotype of poorly worded emails asking for credentials – they’ve evolved into looking like legitimate communication from trusted sources. Attackers usually imitate important, trusted sources like:
- Brands
- Service providers
- Vendors
- Internal departments of your organizations.
According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Report of 2022, Business Email Compromise alone cost companies over $2.7 billion!
What makes these attacks dangerous is that they don’t rely on technical exploitation methods like brute-force, or SYN attacks – they succeed by exploiting trust, catching employees off-guard through realistic-looking requests for wire transfers, login information, or document downloads.
To further add insult to the injury, phishing attacks aren’t limited to emails anymore. They now occur over SMS (called smishing), voice calls (Vishing), and even through social media messaging platforms. As attackers expand the mediums of phishing attacks, they still succeed because of the core reason – it’s simplicity and ability to convince the users that it’s legitimate.
For an organization to fall victim to a phishing attack, all it takes is one employee clicking the wrong link. This error ends up exposing your entire network to grave consequences, including:
- Data theft.
- Loss of Credentials
- Financial losses
Ransomware
Ransomware attacks have become one of the most financially devastating cyber threats in recent years. According to Sangfor technologies, approximately 65% of financial organizations worldwide reported facing a ransomware attack. Unfortunately, many businesses still think of them as rare, making them one of the most overlooked cybersecurity threats.
Like phishing attacks, ransomware has now evolved too. Previously, a ransomware attack would usually encrypt all files on your system and ask you to pay to decrypt the files. Many ransomware attackers now extract sensitive company data before they encrypt your files, rendering them useless.
The attackers then threaten to leak your sensitive data unless you pay the ransom. This puts the victim in a bad situation, where they are trapped between the threat of data loss and reputational harm. Seeing tech giants like Acer undergo a ransomware attack, many enterprises implement safety measures against them.
Unfortunately, many small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) overlook ransomware attacks, making them the go-to choice for the attackers. Many attackers see SMBs as an easy target considering that most of the businesses don’t have security measures in place to predict or prevent a ransomware attack.
In fact, ransomware attacks usually work against most SMBs. Attackers follow a “spray and pray” tactic to spread this malware. This means that they send these viruses to random users over the internet – and many SMB employees end up being their victim.
DDoS Attacks (Denial of Service)
Let’s ask you a question: Has it ever happened to you that you visit a website, and it takes forever to load? However, when you used to open this website previously, it opened within seconds.
It’s about time you stopped blaming your internet for having a bad speed – it’s likely that this website is going through a distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack.
Unlike other cybersecurity threats, many victims don’t even recognize that they’ve been affected by a DDoS victim. It’s often brushed off as a network problem while your customers keep scratching their heads as to why they can’t open your website.
Like other attacks on the website, DDoS attacks aren’t designed to steal your data – they flood your servers with a huge load of requests, increasing the fake traffic so much that your website crashes. In today’s world, especially where consumers are overwhelmed by choices, every second of downtime could mean losing a potential customer.
This loss of potential customers means lost revenue for your business. Additionally, it also costs you the customer trust your business worked so hard to attain.
The Dark Side of DDoS Attacks
While many believe that DDoS attacks are an attempt at rendering your systems unusable, experts believe that attackers now use them as distractions. What looks like a simple DDoS attack on the surface might be a deeper infiltration attack, leaving your I.T. team scrambling to bring systems back online.
Furthermore, the rise of botnets powered by poorly secured IoT devices mitigate the need for technical skills or major infrastructure. An attacker just needs a few rented tools, making a DDoS attack a surprisingly easy method of attack!
How I.T. For Less Can Protect Your Business
Identifying these issues is just the beginning. Knowing how to respond and prepare against these attacks is where the real challenge begins – and that’s where we come in.
With over two decades of helping businesses manage their I.T. infrastructure, we at I.T. For Less helps businesses like yours stay prepared against any cyberattacks. From vigilant monitoring, reducing costs, to training your staff on the I.T. best practices we leave no stone unturned when it comes to protecting your business.
Are you ready to operate confidently while our team of experts fortify your business against any cyber threats? Schedule a free consultation today and let’s talk about how we can help in making your business operations invulnerable to cyber threats.
Final Words
Cybersecurity threats are no longer just about stolen passwords and shady websites. They’ve turned into deceptive attacks that many businesses don’t often see coming. From well-imitated phishing emails to ransomware that lock files, these threats can have devastating effects for your business.
The truth is, many businesses still underestimate these silent threats until it’s too late. And when the damage is done, the cost isn’t just financial – it’s operational, reputational, and lasts long.
Considering how evolved these cyber threats have become, you need a partner well-equipped to help you fend these attacks off. Being experts in helping businesses solidify their I.T. infrastructures for over two decades, the I.T. For Less team is ready to help.
So, schedule a free consultation now and take the first step towards protecting your business. Because in cybersecurity, what you don’t see can hurt you – Don’t wait to find out the hard way!