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FOOLS' DAY

5 Common Tricks Cybercriminals Will Use To Harm Your Business

FOOL'S DAY

5 Common Tricks Cybercriminals 


Will Use To Harm Your Business

April Fools' Day should be fun. It should be about harmless practical jokes, pranks and tricks that make people laugh. When it comes to business though, sometimes things can go beyond a joke. Cyberattacks may start with a trick, but they are not funny.

According to an old saying, "a fool and his money are soon parted". Indeed, there is financial impact to every cyber attack, either monetary or as mid-term cost (damaged reputation, loss of business, etc). 

Cyber attacks vary a lot, and there isn’t just one approach to protecting your business.

So how can you recognize if someone is trying to deceive you?


We’ve listed five common tricks cybercriminals may use to harm your business:

1. Phishing

Very commonly used, a phishing attack can use an SMS, email or social media (often appearing to be from a reliable and trustworthy organization) to get users to access suspicious links and download harmful malware.

2. Ransomware

Ransomware is an attack preventing companies from accessing their systems or data. Cybercriminals will demand ransom to restore access.

3. Social Engineering

In this type of attack, cybercriminals will contact their victims in person (e.g. with a phone call, often impersonating a bank representative, an insurance agent, a central or local government official, etc.), and try to trick them into transferring money to a new account, or providing passwords and pins.

4. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)

A Distributed Denial-of-Service is a sophisticated type of attack where cybercriminals will flood a company’s systems with traffic, to slow down operations, make the network collapse, and create chaos.

5. Insider Threat

Often overseen, an insider threat will start from within the company. This attack can be extremely dangerous, since the attacker often knows a lot about the company, its systems and policies; therefore can cause a lot of damage.

1. Phishing

Very commonly used, a phishing attack can use an SMS, email or social media (often appearing to be from a reliable and trustworthy organization) to get users to access suspicious links and download harmful malware.

2. Ransomware

Ransomware is an attack preventing companies from accessing their systems or data. Cybercriminals will demand ransom to restore access.

3. Social Engineering

In this type of attack, cybercriminals will contact their victims in person (e.g. with a phone call, often impersonating a bank representative, an insurance agent, a central or local government official, etc.), and try to trick them into transferring money to a new account, or providing passwords and pins.

4. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)

A Distributed Denial-of-Service is a sophisticated type of attack where cybercriminals will flood a company’s systems with traffic, to slow down operations, make the network collapse, and create chaos.

5. Insider Threat

Often overseen, an insider threat will start from within the company. This attack can be extremely dangerous, since the attacker often knows a lot about the company, its systems and policies; therefore can cause a lot of damage.

The joke is on them: Meet EMPIST’s Security Bundle!

With the EMPIST Security Bundle, we’ve combined five of our fundamental services to create a comprehensive, efficient and affordable network for your business’s cybersecurity needs. The Bundle includes Compliance, Managed MFA, Dark Web Monitoring, Password Management and of course, Security Awareness Training.

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