Nowadays cyber-threats are becoming a daily headache for IT security staff, it supports to have some guidance, or at least identify what to look out for. As a small company doing business on the web, you need to be aware of these methods so you can be extra vigilant when online.All the threat has been divided into three parts internal threat, system threat and external threat which are described below.
Internal Threats:
Internal threat is the threat that originating inside the corporation and commonly an exploit by a dissatisfied employee denied promotion or informed of employee termination.
The following are the possible internal threats that affect your organization:1. Employee theft: Employee theft can be characterized as any stealing, utilize or abuse of business benefit without permission.Security Measure:
• Using biometric identification system.
• Secretly watching employee and encourage them to own their success.
2. Weak access control:Weak access control means the system is very weedy in a 3A (Authentication, Authorization, Accounting) security model and security process that controls use of particular assets inside of a predefined criteria.Security Measure:
• Strong password system with sufficient length to expand the difficulty it takes to split the password and they should be stored in the encrypted format.
• Making strong access control model policies (confidentiality, accountability, and integrity).
3. Privilege abuse:The peoples with rights who have extensive access to the resources of an organization might abuse it to satisfy their requirements or to destroy the organization reputation.Security Measure: • Performs through background checks before issuance of privilege credentials.
• Bearing regular privilege user training.
System threats
The threat that harm physical equipment, hardware and system of organisation is system threat.
The possible system threats to organizations are:1. Equipment failure:Equipment failure refers to any occasion in which any equipment can't complete its intended task or reason. It can also mean that the hardware has stopped working.Security Measure:
• Regularly checking and maintenance of the physical equipment.
2. Power fluctuation:It refers to power surges and spikes which causes the electronic equipment to fail.Security Measure:
• Proper wiring and grounding of electronic equipment.
• Installing surge protector.
External threats
A threat that originating outside the organization or institution to the intention of damage or steal confidential information of that organization.
The possibly external threat for organization are listed below.1. Malicious threat:Malicious threat include Computer viruses, Trojan, worm and spyware. It is code or software that is particularly intended to damage, steal, disrupt, or as a rule inflict some other "terrible" or illegitimate activity on information, hosts, or network.Security measure:
• Install antivirus software into the system and download updates to ensure that software has the latest fixes for new viruses, Trojans, worms and bots.
• Ensure that antivirus software can scan email and the all the files downloaded from the internet.
2. DOS attack:A Denial-of-Service (DOS) attack is an attack intended to close down a machine or network, making it unavailable to its intended users.Security Measure:
• Using Over-provisioning brute force defense.
• Configuring windows firewall and IP access lists.
3. Eavesdropping:Eavesdropping refers to the unauthorized monitoring of other people’s communications. It can be conducted on ordinary telephone systems, emails, instant messaging or other Internet services.Security Measure: An electronic search of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum to detect any unauthorized emanations from the area being examined.Use encrypted data using data transmission or conversation.4. Data breaches:A data breach is an occurrence in which sensitive, secured or confidential data has potentially been seen, stolen or utilized by an individual unapproved to do as such. In case of small organisation data breaches may involve personal information and intellectual property. Security measure:
• Encrypting all the sensitive information and shred them before disposing.
• Retain the third party and limiting the staffs to access system and devices.
5. Phishing:Phishing is the process to gain sensitive information like usernames, passwords and credit card information, frequently for malicious reasons, by taking on the appearance of a dependable element in an electronic correspondence.Security Measure:
• Keep websites certificates up to date so that users are assured the legitimacy of the websites.
• Educate users about the best practices that they should follow and observe when using Internet services.
6. D-DOS attackA distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack is a challenge to make an online service inaccessible by overpowering it with traffic from numerous sources. It focus on wide range banking information and confidential data of any organization.Security Measure:
• Limit the rate of router to prevent form web server being overwhelmed
• Use of firewall and pack sniffing technique for controlling high packet traffic