Online Business: Dangerous Cyber-Security Threats

Ecommerce is growing at a breakneck pace. Almost all entrepreneurs wish to go online for their business because of the vast internet usage made by people daily.
As per statistics, 3.2 billion users were connected to the internet daily in 2018. No wonder the Ecommerce market is emerging as the biggest market in today’s world.

In previous years, the internet was only a means of communication between two people. But over the years, due to its extensive usage, people have started converting the web into a marketing tool for their business.

Online business is dreams come true for many. People go crazy thinking about online promotions and online profits. The only thing they forget is to take care of online security threats.

Many SMB’s go online for their business, but they also need to familiarize themselves with the security risks involved. They should take necessary precautionary measures for the smooth sailing of their business.

As per statistics,98% of WordPress vulnerabilities caused due to vulnerable plug-ins while the web is facing a single attack at every 39 seconds.

Network Security Threats for Online Business:

Virus: 

Computer viruses are prevalent security threats faced by internet users. As per the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report, approximately 33% of computers are affected by malware, out of which more than half are viruses.

Viruses harm your computer by damaging files, software, and hard drives, thus disrupting the system’s performance and causing crashes. They also slow down your system by eating your bandwidth and infecting files.

Installation of anti-virus software like Norton, BullGuard, or Panda Security protects your computer systems from the above problems, thus securing your business.

Malicious Software:

Malicious software or malware is the most effective method of security breaches. Cyber-criminals use malicious software to mislead users cunningly.

E.g., Rogue Security software makes users believe that there is a virus in their system and offers the user to install the software. The user is unaware that malware is being installed instead of secure software; which in turn will damage the system and affect the business.
Re-check any software before installing and keep your computer system safe.

Trojan Horse:

Trojan horse virus enters your computer through the backdoor and gives access to your system and other confidential data to cyber-criminals. Users download them by mistake, either from email attachments or from infected sites. Clicking on false advertisements also spread Trojans.

Spyware:

Spyware threat monitors your online activities, gets downloaded without your permission, and works on its own without any commands given by you.

E.g., it opens a file and deletes it automatically even if you have not done. It steals your passwords and misuses them to ruin your business.

Installing anti-spyware or anti-malware software on servers, laptops, and any system running windows will help prevent your computers from being infected.

Ransomware:

Hackers make ransomware attacks with the sole motto of demanding a ransom. It encrypts the files from computer and can only be decrypted by the hackers after they receive the payment asked for.

As per 2018 Cyrene report, ransomware attacks are 67%, which are topping the list of security threats. Scareware, screen lockers, encrypting ransomware are types of a ransomware attack.

Phishing:

Phishing emails or scam emails trick email recipients into clicking an attachment and later try to grab your personal information such as credit card details and password, bank account numbers, etc. It includes a phishing page where users are being asked to enter their details.

These emails disguise themselves as a trustworthy entity and get all your sensitive information by one click. Be extra cautious while clicking such attachments.

Whaling phishing attacks are one type of attacks which target CEO or CFO of the company and steal their sensitive information. The collateral damage can be enormous as these identities have all the access rights.

You can also install a phishing filter on your web browser or install anti-spyware and firewalls to prevent phishing attacks.

Password Attacks:

Easy and simple passwords are a boon to hackers as they allow them to create an illegitimate gateway in the computer system.

Keep complex and different passwords for different applications and change them regularly to prevent illegal accesses. Keep small and capital both along with special characters and numbers in the password that will make it tough for guessing.

Lack Of Essential Security:

There are some necessary security measures which are very necessary for your computers. They include anti-virus software, firewalls, backup software, etc. In case if these underlying securities are missing in your computer or are expired, they may lead to severe problems.
Keep them updated and running regularly for the safety of your online business.

Internal Security Threat:

Internal employees sometimes seek vengeance and are a threat to the organization.
By limiting access rights to their job activity and by educating employees about the threats and measures will help prevention of losses.

You can also install User Action Monitoring Software, which allows admins to track the usage and behaviour of each employee. Any suspicious move can be tracked and prevented for further damages.

DDoS Attacks:

A DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack is a malicious attempt made by hackers to disrupt your regular web traffic. Multiple systems are infected with Trojan, and it affects the speed of your computer, slowing it down to a crawl. It successfully halts your site operations, which in turn puts your business to a halt.

A report as per Kaspersky, states that in Q1 2019, DDoS attacks increased by 84%.

A strong firewall helps detect malicious traffic coming to your site and blocks them instantly, thus preventing harm to your business.

HTTPS Instead of HTTP:

If your domain name (URL) starts with HTTP, it’s an unsafe site because your connection to the site is not encrypted. It is risky as hackers can easily access your personal information.
The rule is simple: The higher the encryption, the stronger the security.

To avoid this unsafe situation, you should buy SSL (Secured Sockets Layer) certificate, which creates an encrypted data passing between browsers and servers. Thus, it safeguards your information against such hackers. Hackers find it very difficult to read encrypted data and thus try to attack elsewhere.

Rootkit:

A rootkit is a type of malware which infects the PC, installs software without the knowledge of the user and grabs all the information and data by accessing the computer; hiding its presence.


Rootkit hides malicious software from anti-virus securities and makes changes in the operating systems without the knowledge of the user. E.g., if a hacker uses a rootkit to hide the malicious stuff, it becomes challenging to find the malware.

MITM Attacks:

Man-in-the-middle attacks (MITM) are those attacks wherein the attacker acts as a mediator between two parties and communicates on their behalf without their knowledge. Either of the parties thinks it’s the other party communicating, but in reality, they are interacting with the attacker. In this way, the attacker can change the communication text and send it to the other party without their knowledge.

Types of MITM attacks include Spoofing Attacks (IP, ARP, and DNS spoofing), Wi-Fi hacking, and HTTPS spoofing.

Dangers of cyber threats faced by online businesses are increasing day by day. Hackers keep on using different methods to penetrate your business illegally by threatening your computer.

Some Measures To Avoid Online Security Breaches:

Reliable web hosts, trusted e-commerce platform, secured WIFI, updated anti-virus software, complex passwords, SSL Certification, regular backups and security scans, limited access to admin area are a few more security measures, which help your online business to sail smoothly.

Just make cyber-security a top priority, ensure your business safety and customer safety and rule in the online world.