IT security threats you need to protect against
The computer security threats are aimed at violating the privacy of information. Typically, these threats arise from system vulnerabilities, or also from human error committed by a user who has been tricked into giving his data to a hacker.
If we want to avoid the computer threats It is essential that we begin by learning about them and discovering how to defend ourselves against them.
Types of computer threats
We find two types of computer security threats, intentional and unintentional.
- Intentional computer threats are those that occur as a result of a deliberate attempt to steal information. D-DOS denial-of-service attacks, social engineering techniques, and the spread of malicious code would therefore be deliberate and intentional computer threats.
- There are also unintentional computer threats. These are those in which by action or omission a vulnerability is exposed that puts at risk the information you have on your computer. For example, a fire in the place where your server is located can result in the loss of information, even if it is completely accidental.
In this sense, it must be understood that even if we have the best security systems to prevent others from taking advantage of our vulnerabilities, there is still a risk of information loss, as a result of natural disasters, which are also a threat to data integrity.
Intentional computer security threats
Think about it for a moment; a cybercriminal wants access to private information that you have. To achieve this, he can only do it in two ways:
- Exploit system vulnerabilities: for example, introduce malicious code into the system to help him collect information, or perform a denial-of-service attack to bring your server down.
- Tricking the user who operates the system: using social engineering techniques, the user can convince you to give him your data yourself, making you believe that he is a bank, an institution or even the government (this is known as a phishing technique).
In many cases, the cybercriminal combines the two options (tricking the user into biting in order to introduce a malicious code into his computer), which allows him to obtain the information he wanted.
If the hacker or person in question manages to exploit system or user vulnerabilities, then he has already achieved his goal.
Why would someone want to get information about you or your company?
The reasons that may lead someone to try to breach your computer security can be manifold:
- To host files (legal or illegal) on your hard drive and steal space from you.
- Having an IP to use for illegal or fraudulent activities.
- Hiding their fraudulent activities by using your IP.
- Attempting to discover personal data of some kind and access your accounts.
- Steal money from you, or try to make you pay in exchange for fixing the problem.
- Capture compromising images or videos that violate your privacy and blackmail you.
- Simply for fun or on behalf of someone who wants to harm you.
- For industrial espionage, in certain sectors there may be bad practices that take advantage of this kind of techniques to harm the competition
How to protect yourself from computer security threats?
If you want your company’s computers to be safe from both computer security threats, you should consider the following.
Both humans and machines can fail; no system is 100% foolproof. However, it can be learned and the chances of someone stealing your data can be minimized. Also keep in mind that there is also the possibility of data encryption and backups; data encryption means that even if someone intercepts your data, they can’t figure out how to decrypt it; and second, backups help you keep the integrity of the information safe.
So companies that don’t take IT security threats seriously should be very clear that you can. There are computer security measures to keep your computer networks safe, and there are codes of good practice that users should be aware of and learn so that privacy breaches do not occur.
Taking these aspects seriously is very important. In addition, every company should have an encrypted, automatic, cloud-based backup strategy so that information is always safe and can be restored if any of these threats have materialized.