If you are techno savvy person and interested to read online cyber news then you may probably heard about evolving cyber crime that has made millions of individuals and thousands of organizations victim of their malicious intention. Cyber crime seems a difficult problem for many security experts, enterprises, and governments. Cyber crime is becoming a serious disease for every organization. Every year million of dollars are being spent to stop this critical crime, but still we can not achieve a remarkable success in mitigating cyber crime. In fact, it is necessary for an individual to look into this matter, because cyber culprits always take advantage of the user’s ignorance or lack of knowledge about web security. For the sake of individual and organization’s interest, we have sum up some interesting ways through which hackers try to access your online information also given precaution steps.
Baiting:
USB drive seems a good option for carrying data, but when you got infected device, then what could be the worst condition you will face? A virus infected USB can manipulate your PC and works like a backdoor that can send your valuable information to hackers. It is advisable to keep an antivirus active on your PC, so that whenever such infected USB is detected on your system, the antivirus will notify you.
Phishing:
Phishing is a sophisticated way that lures users to click on provided a link (in email). Spam email is a great source to spread a virus by tricking users. Phishing emails pretend to be coming from government authority, company discount offer, educational institutions, or from other reputed sites. When users click on a link in such fake emails, they will be redirected to a page, asking to verify login credentials. It is sensible to open a direct URL of a website instead of opening a link from unknown email.
Clickjacking:
Clickjacking is a malicious technique that tricks a user into clicking a different link from what a user perceived. Clickjacking represents script or code concealed into the link, which is concealed into a call-to-action button on which user is clicking. Users generally have no idea about Clickjacking fraud and innocently click on a link. When a user clicks on such hidden link, the hidden script starts to snatch the user’s information by entering into PC or take control of the whole system.
Social Engineering:
Social engineering is an intrusion technique that depends on the human psychology and interaction. Human is a weakest link in security segment, a social engineer tries to gain confidence of the victim and get him to disclose confidential information. Social engineering is a sophisticated technique that manipulates people with a tendency of trust others.
Spoofing Attack:
Spoof means imitate other identity. An attacker imitates network or user and launch attack on network hosts to steal data, spread malware, or bypass access controls. Some well-known methods are IP address spoofing attacks, ARP spoofing attacks, and DNS server spoofing attacks. Organizations can employ spoofing detection software, packet filtering, or cryptographic network protocols to limit spoofing attacks.
Pharming:
Pharming attack is planned to redirect a website’s traffic to a bogus site. It can be carried on; by altering, the hosts file on a victim’s computer or by using vulnerability in the DNS server software. It is used to gain information for online identity theft. Antivirus software and spyware removal software cannot defend against Pharming.
Tips to protect Online Information:
- Set your browser to warn you when any website tells to store cookies on your PC system.
- Always clean browser history and catches before shutting down your PC.
- Use a firewall as it can identify unknown traffic and warns you.
- Always install a link scanner, as it will identify the hidden link to make sure it is safe.
- Keep a strong password and do not share with anybody. Use combination of long character, numbers, and symbols in your password. For better password security user can use any third party password manager such as Lastpass, KeePass etc.
- Periodically check for your credit card and bank account statement to find out any suspicious activity.
- If you receive any mail pretending from bank authority, kindly contact bank for further clarification.
- Do not provide unnecessary information in filling online forms. Set a separate email address for online shopping and news subscription.
- Be sensible while sharing your information (addresses, telephone numbers, birthdays, and other personal information) on social networking sites. Do not accept unknown friend requests and limit your followers’ list.
- Companies should always have a secured dedicated server that limits potential risks and damages in organization. It is sensible to go for dedicated server that puts your password security in a healthy stage. Few advantages also come with a secured dedicated server such as below:
- High server security to keep away potential attacks and dangers
- Lack of server loading issue due to other users
- Enough bandwidth and space
- Excellent technical support
- Full control on server
You are the key to stop cyber crime. The more you take safety precautions, the less you will fall into a victim of cyber culprits. This article is a part of global initiative of NCSAM (National Cyber Security Awareness Month) for spreading awareness among web users. Hope, you will like it and follow them to secure yourself from potential damage.
