Phishing attacks
These attacks will steal information from users or trick them into downloading malware by sending malicious emails that resemble real/official requests but are, in fact, a scam. An example can be when cyber criminals hacked the AP News Twitter account and falsely tweeted that the White House was under attack. The attackers used a targeted phishing attack (spear-phishing) to gain access to the account. Another example is when Hillary Clinton’s emails were leaked during her Presidential campaign. Phishing attacks are more tricky to handle. Since they pose as something else entirely, and since they are very easy to perform. They are also one of the most common methods used by cyber criminals to access data and perform identity theft. Phishing attacks are in an ever-growing curve, with the expectation of number of attacks increasing even further during 2021/2022.
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks
These attacks disrupt or stop the traffic to a website, or an application, server, service, or even a network by flooding it with traffic from botnets (compromised computer networks), preventing actual users from accessing it. In 2018, GitHub experienced the largest DDoS attack ever when it was hit with 1.35 terabits of traffic per second and was offline for almost 20 minutes as a result. DdoS attacks are currently in a downward trend, expected to decrease in the number of attacks during 2021/2022.
Man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks
These attacks occur when an internal resource at an organization, spies on or intercepts communication between users and businesses or even employees within their organization. MitM attacks target personal or company information or redirect that information to another destination or for espionage purposes, for example: Russian intelligence operatives attempted to breach the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), a weapons watchdog organization, by using espionage equipment in a car next to the OPCW headquarters in Hague. MitM attacks have recently surged all around the world, resulting in Governments enforcing cybersecurity norms.
Hijacking of Accounts
The growing popularity of IoT devices and the growing concept of a connected world exposes users to further risk of account data being compromised. Hijacking of accounts can have devastating consequences on a business if their data is leaked, falsified, or plagiarised. Account hijacking incidents can be minimized by constant monitoring, multifactor access systems, proper security logs, and encrypting data. Example: In July, the Twitter accounts of some of the world’s most influential people — including Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Joe Biden, Elon Musk, and Kanye West — all posted suspicious tweets asking for Bitcoin. The scam tweets would vanish and appear in a whimsical fashion. Identity thefts and hijacking accounts have been on the rise from the past two years and these attacks are maintaining an upward curve.
