What is Cyber ​​Threat Prevention?

What are cyber threats?

What do we mean when we talk about cyber threats?

A cyber threat, to put it simply, is anything that has the potential to damage systems and data, as well as the individuals and groups that are connected to them, by means of destruction, theft, alteration, leaking, denial of access/service, etc. Intentional and unintentional cyberthreats are separated into two groups; unintentional threats are typically referred to as vulnerabilities and include things like weak passwords and other security flaws.

Evolution of Cyber ​​Threats

Engineer Bob Thomas developed the “Creeper” program in 1971, which allowed data to be transferred between computers. Creeper was only a message that said, “I’m a Creeper.” It wasn’t malevolent. If you can, try to catch me. However, it undoubtedly gave rise to the idea of cybersecurity and cyber dangers.

Since then, as data and digital assets have grown in value and prevalence, cyber risks have changed dramatically. Cybercriminals have progressed from lone hackers looking to flaunt their talents to organised gangs looking to make money, and once-ubiquitous tools like Creeper have given way to incredibly powerful software and tactics. These are a few of the more frequent dangers we encounter nowadays:

• Malware is harmful software, such as viruses, worms, Trojan horses, ransomware, spyware, and adware, that is intended to damage endpoints, networks, and data.

• Ransomware Attacks often encrypt data and files to prevent access until the victim pays a ransom to the attacker. In addition to preventing the victim from accessing their data, double extortion ransomware also takes their information, which increases its allure to hackers.

• A Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks cause service disruptions by flooding a targeted network or server with a huge volume of traffic, including invalid requests, which overloads the system and prevents it from processing legitimate traffic.
• Phishing Attackers frequently use social engineering and fraudulent interactions through email or social media to deceive targets into disclosing personal or sensitive information, like credit card numbers or passwords.

Where do cyber threats come from?

The origins of threats differ based on the kind of data processed by the victim organisation, the attackers’ goals, and their nature. As an illustration:

• Government organisations and providers of vital infrastructure are frequently the targets of terrorists, hacktivists, and hostile nation-state actors who aim to obstruct their operations.

• Financial gain is the main driving force behind threat actor groups and individual hackers, who may target companies that store sensitive data like payment details, personally identifiable information (PII), protected health information (PHI), or intellectual property.

• Corporate intelligence operatives and malicious insiders can pursue a wide range of goals, such as disruption or theft, and can have a number of motivations, such as retaliation or financial gain.

How to identify and protect against cyber threats

Attackers view industries and businesses with greater volumes of sensitive data or those thought to be willing to pay larger ransoms as high-value targets, but as these attacks increase in frequency, all organisations must take preventative measures.

Types of Cyber ​​Threat Protection

Attackers have several entry points in today’s complex environments, and no single security product can address them all. To effectively protect against cyber threats, one needs:

Firewall: Examines all incoming and outgoing data to shield you from harmful domains and stop external attacks.

TLS/SSL Inspection: This crucial function, given that the majority of traffic in use today is encrypted, finds hidden risks encoded in both incoming and outgoing encrypted communication.

Intrusion Prevention System (IPS): Guards against advanced threats, zero-day attacks, botnets, and other security risks. It also keeps an eye out for policy infractions.

Sandboxing:By “exploding” questionable files in a secluded virtual environment and examining them for harmful activity, sandboxing safeguards endpoints.

Browser Isolation: By giving consumers a secure pixel rendering, this technique stops dangerous content from getting to your endpoints or network.

Using decoy assets as lures to obtain information, produce warnings, shorten dwell times, and expedite incident response is known as deception technology. 

Threat Prevention Best Practices

• Update your browser and operating system regularly. Updates are frequently released by software companies to patch newly found vulnerabilities in their products and keep your system safe.

• Ensure data protection by using automated backups: Establish a routine procedure for system data backups to guarantee recovery in the case of a data leak or ransomware attack.

• Employ multi-factor authentication that is advanced (MFA): An extra line of protection is added by access controls, such multifactor authentication, between intruders and your internal systems.

• Inform your users. The human factor continues to be an organisation’s greatest weakness, and cybercriminals are always coming up with new attack techniques. If every user in your organisation knows how to spot and report phishing attempts, steer clear of dangerous URLs, and more, your organisation will be safer overall.Invest in integrated, comprehensive zero trust security.

• Cyber threats have evolved significantly since Creeper, and you need a proactive, efficient, and all-encompassing protection platform to safeguard your company’s modern hybrid workforce and lower risk.

Zscaler provides the best cyber threat protection

Enterprises cannot be protected from contemporary attacks by antiquated security architectures built on appliances and centralised hub-and-spoke networks. Appliances have built-in feature limits and are slow to upgrade. Furthermore, it would be extremely expensive to duplicate the entire security stack across several branch offices. Most importantly, traditional security is unable to extend security policies to a workforce that is hybrid and mobile.

To provide businesses with the scalable and adaptable protection they want, only a cloud-native zero trust platform can be used. Built for the cloud, rather than as a virtualized version of a conventional appliance with built-in constraints, is what is meant by cloud-native. In a world where the network border has vanished, the notion that it dictates what is and is not secure is inapplicable. A departure from that notion is zero trust.

The only zero trust platform that is completely cloud-native and offers a comprehensive security services edge (SSE) for connecting users, workloads, and devices without ever putting them on your network is Zscaler Zero Trust ExchangeTM.

By drastically lowering the attack surface and offering AI-powered advanced threat protection, Zero Trust Exchange offers a radically new way to prevent cyber threats. It links users, devices, and workloads directly to the resources they require while maintaining fully integrated security controls and cloud-speed operation. These abilities are beneficial:

Countermeasures against cyber attacks

Because cyberattack techniques are always evolving, it is exceedingly challenging to totally prevent them. You can lessen the harm, though, if you take the right steps. We’ll go over a few ways to stop cyberattacks here.

Measures for individual employees

Every employee must first be aware of the risks and take precautions in order to prevent cyberattacks. Among the specific actions are the following:

Recognize the hazards and techniques of cyberattacks.

Set up an antivirus program.

Create a lengthy password with a combination of digits, symbols, and capital and lowercase letters.

Configure network and cloud shares appropriately.

Watch out for dubious emails and websites.

Update your operating system and software. 

Measures for businesses and companies

Businesses must implement security measures in addition to individual personnel. Among the specific actions are the following:

Install security software that complies with the established security policy.

Use two-factor authentication for gaining access to critical data.

Limit the removal of personal devices, USB memory sticks, and company equipment.

Quickly take away access privileges from departing employees

granting the appropriate authority based on the job description and content