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What is Cybersecurity: The Reality of Modern Threats

Article · January 2020

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 What is Cybersecurity: The Reality of Modern Threats
EMNK Ekanayake#1, GAHM Karunarathne2, and GRM Gunarathne3
1,2,3
Department of Information Technology, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Sri Lanka
# Ekanayake EMNK; <nimesh.ekanayaka7@gmail.com>
Abstract— Cybercrime encircles the criminal acts that
involve computers and networks. Thus, “Cybercrime” is a
broad term that describes everything from electronic
hacking to denial-of-service attacks that cause e-business
websites to lose cash. Cybercrimes are basically criminal
activities where computers, networks or electronic
information technology devices are the source, tool, target
or place of crime. Cybercrimes are effected by way of
unlawful access into another database, unlawful
interception, data interference, system interference, misuse
of devices, forgery and electronic scams. This paper tries
to provide a clear understanding of varieties of cybercrime
and basic prevention techniques which will facilitate
internal auditors to assess whether or not an organization
has adequate defenses against cybercrime. For households
or people, understanding cybercrime guides us not to fall
prey to specific cybercrimes like identity theft and cyber
fraud.
Keywords— Cybersecurity, Cybercrime, Cyberattack,
Prevent Cyberattacks
I. INTRODUCTION
In today’s automated world the special attention ought to
be addressed to the cybersecurity of your data and activity
online. the days when network security was connected
solely to big companies and institutions are gone.
Nowadays, every and each person can be a possible victim
of cyberattack regardless of the status and monetary
resources on the bank account.
It's important to bear in mind the intense cybersecurity
issues presently affecting technology. Therefore, this
article will reveal some important factors concerning
cybersecurity and cyber protection in modern reality so as
to Illustrate the entire spectrum of possible threats.
II. WHAT IS CYBERSECURITY
Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting any internet-
connected systems, networks, software and different types
of data from cyberattacks. These cyberattacks are typically
aimed toward accessing, changing, or destroying sensitive
information; extorting money from users; or interrupting
traditional business processes.
Implementing effective cybersecurity measures is
especially difficult nowadays as a result of there are a lot of
devices than individuals, and attackers are getting more
innovative.
A. Treat Actors
In fact, there's a chance to spot different threat actors who
may undermine the integrity of the protection status of your
device:
1) Cybercriminals: They attack systems and steal data for
profit.
2) Hackers: There are two types of hackers.
i. Professional hackers who work to benefit
corporations by improving security.
ii. Malicious hackers who are skilled criminals aiming
for financial gain by means of obtaining access to the
bank account, personal passwords, faking antivirus,
and blackmailing.
3) Hacktivists: Who is politically, religiously or socially
motivated with the aim to reveal contentious truth
concerning their opponents.
4) Cyber Terrorists: This kind isn't common yet, however,
with the more evolution of digitalization, there's an
excellent likelihood cyber-terrorist may replace the
standard notion of terrorism and become the global
challenge.
5) Nation-states: They are launching cyberattacks against
other countries.
B. Protection Layers of Cybersecurity
A successful cybersecurity approach has multiple layers of
protection[1] spread across the computers, networks,
programs, or data that one intends to keep safe. In a
company, the people, processes, and technology should all
complement each other to make an effective defense from
cyberattacks. A unified threat management system will
automate and accelerate key security operations functions:
detection, investigation, and remediation.
1) People: Users should perceive and go with basic data
security principles like selecting sturdy passwords, being
cautious of attachments in email, and backing up data.
2) Processes: Organizations should have a framework for
the way they manage each attempted and successful
cyberattacks. One well-respected framework will guide
you. It explains how you'll be able to determine attacks,
defend systems, detect and respond to threats, and recover
from successful attacks.
3) Technology: Technology is crucial to giving
organizations and individuals the computer security tools
required to safeguard themselves from cyberattacks. three
main entities should be protected:
i. Endpoint devices like computers, smart devices, and
routers.
ii. Networks.
iii. The Cloud.
Common technology used to defend these entities include
next-generation firewalls, DNS filtering, malware
protection, antivirus software, and email security solutions.
III. IMPORTANCE OF CYBERSECURITY
In today’s connected world, everybody benefits from
advanced cyber defense programs. At an individual level, a
cybersecurity attack may end up in everything from identity
theft, to extortion attempts, to the loss of vital data like
family photos. everybody depends on essential
infrastructures like power plants, hospitals, and monetary
service firms. Securing these and other organizations is
crucial to keeping our society functioning.
Everyone conjointly advantages from the work of cyber
threat researchers, just like the team of 250 threat
researchers at Talos[2][3], who investigate new and
emerging threats and cyberattack strategies. They reveal
new vulnerabilities, educate the general public on the
importance of cybersecurity, and strengthen open source
tools. Their work makes the internet safer for everybody.
IV. WHAT IS CYBERATTACK
A cyberattack is an assault launched by cybercriminals
using one or more computers against single or multiple
computers or networks. A cyberattack may maliciously
disable computers, steal data, or use a breached computer
as a launch point for different attacks. Cybercriminals use
a range of strategies, together with malware, phishing,
ransomware, denial of service, among other methods.
V. TYPES OF CYBER ATTACKS
To achieve cyberattacks goals of gaining access or
disabling operations, a variety of various technical
strategies are deployed by cybercriminals. There are
perpetually new strategies proliferating, and a few of those
categories overlap, however, these are the terms that you
are most likely to hear discussed.
(source: a cartoon by Michal Maslin for the Instagram
account the New Yorker[4])
A. Malware
Short for malicious software, malware can refer to any kind
of software, despite how it's structured or operated, that "is
designed to cause harm to a single pc, server, or network,"
as Microsoft puts it. Worms, viruses, and trojans are all
types of malware, distinguished from each other by the
means by which they reproduce and spread. These attacks
could render the pc or network inoperable, or grant the
attacker root access in order that they can control the
system remotely.
B. Phishing
Phishing is a technique by that cybercriminals generate or
create fake emails to fool a target with the intention of
taking some harmful action. The recipient may well be
tricked into downloading malware that is disguised as a
very important document, as an example, or urged to click
on a link that takes them to a pretend web site where they're
going to be asked for sensitive information like bank
usernames and passwords. Many phishing emails are
relatively crude and emailed to thousands of potential
victims, however, some are specifically crafted for valuable
target individuals to undertake to get them to part with
useful information.
C. Denial of service
A denial of service attack may be a brute force technique to
undertake to prevent some online service from operating
properly. As an example, attackers may send so much
traffic to a web site or so many requests to a database that
it overwhelms those system's ability to perform, making
them inaccessible to anybody. A distributed denial of
service (DDoS) attack uses an army of computers, typically
compromised by malware and under the control of
cybercriminals, to funnel the traffic towards the targets.
D. Man in the Middle
A man in the middle attack (MITM) is a technique by that
attackers manage to interpose themselves in secret between
the user and a web service they are attempting to access.
For example, an attacker would possibly set up a Wi-Fi
network with a login screen designed to mimic a hotel
network; once a user logs in, the attacker can harvest any
data that the user sends, including banking passwords.
E. Cryptojacking
Cryptojacking is a specialized attack that involves
obtaining someone else's pc to do the work of generating
cryptocurrency for you (a process referred to as mining in
crypto lingo). The attackers will either install malware on
the victim's pc to perform the required calculations or
typically run the code in JavaScript that executes within the
victim's browser.
F. SQL injection
The SQL injection is a means by that an attacker can exploit
a vulnerability to gain control of a victim's database. Many
databases are designed to conform commands written in the
Structured query language (SQL), and plenty of websites
that take data from users send that data to SQL databases.
During a SQL injection attack, a hacker can, for example,
write some SQL commands into a web form that is
requesting name and address information; if the web site
and database are not programmed properly, the database
would possibly attempt to execute those commands.
G. Zero-day exploits
Zero-days are vulnerabilities in a software system that have
nevertheless to be fixed. The attack is named as Zero-day
because once a patch is released by the system developer,
each day represents fewer and fewer computers open to
attack as users download their security updates. Techniques
for exploiting such vulnerabilities are typically bought and
sold on the dark web — and are generally discovered by
government agencies that polemically may use them for
their own hacking purposes, instead of releasing
information regarding them for the common benefit.
VI. WHY CYBER ATTACKS ARE DANGEROUS
Needless to mention that except for the leaking of
information, damaging the data and undermining the
reputation of the user, cyber-attacks have a lot of deepening
the notion of threats and dangerous effects. Some of them
are:
A. It is quite contagious
the device could be hacked even without clicking on
malicious links or email attachments. Nowadays, threat
actors are using remote execution exploits (like
EternalBlue) or Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) brute
force attacks, which permit them to avoid interaction with
the users.
B. Economic expenses
Every year it causes billions of dollars to deal with the
attacks. Thus, once the businesses are hacked, they
typically lost an enormous part of their financial resources
moreover as customer loyalty.
C. The domino effects
It takes just one pc to compromise the entire network.
Hackers may simply spread malware (or different
infections) from one pc to another by means of using
exploits or collecting credentials and hijacking legitimate
tools like PsExec and the Windows Management
Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC).
D. It is not easy to get rid of malware after the attack
Needless to mention that the cleanup process may take
months because of the restoration of machines and
checking the network for any signs of left malware.
However, some viruses (like WannaCry and QakBot) may
leave some backdoors and scheduled tasks that might
reinstall themselves after some time.
E. Companies’ built-in system tools could be used against
the companies itself
Rather than dropping malicious files onto the disk,
criminals are abusing legitimate tools like macros,
PowerShell scripts, PsExec, and WMIC to execute their
attacks. This "living off the land" approach helps attackers
hide in plain sight by achieving persistence, execution and
lateral movement using otherwise valid applications. With
no malware concerned, security that depends on identifying
and blocking malicious files is useless. that may justify the
failure of anti-virus and next-generation av solutions to
safeguard the pc from the cyberattacks.
VII. CYBERATTACKS ARE PREVENTABLE
It looks like an enormous cyberattack happens each day
around the world. So, however, do you shield yourself? you
will not believe it, however other than having a good
firewall and antivirus installed, there are some easy ways
in which to confirm that you just do not fall victim to a
cyberattack:
1) Keep Your Secrets, Secret: Do not share your personal
information online[5] unless you're sure that you are
dealing with a secure web site. the simplest way to tell if
the site is safe or not is to look for an "s" within the URL
(or web address) for the site you are visiting. an unsafe
website} can begin with http:// whereas a secure site can
begin with https://.
 2) Just Do Not Click: Don't click links in emails[6]. though
you think that you know who the e-mail is from. Also, do
not download files. the sole exception to this rule is that if
you're expecting somebody to send you a link or a file. If
you have got spoken with them within the real world and
understand where the link can lead or what the file will
contain, then it's okay. For any other circumstance, simply
do not click. If you receive an email from a bank or credit
No Other,” Network Solutions Incorporated, 2018. [Online].
Available: https://www.nsi1.com/blog/why-talos-threat-
intelligence-like-no-other.
[3] Cisco, “Cisco Talos,” Cisco. [Online]. Available:
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/security/talos.html.
[4] M. Maslin, “Cyber Attack Cartoon by Michal Maslin.” New
Yorker Instagram.

card company that makes you surprise, close the e-mail and [5] Norton, “11 ways to help protect yourself against cybercrime,”
type the bank or credit card company's address directly into Norton, 2018. [Online]. Available:
your web browser. Better yet, call the company and ask https://us.norton.com/internetsecurity-how-to-how-to-
them regarding the message. recognize-and-protect-yourself-from-cybercrime.html.

[6] Safety4See, “How to prevent cyber attacks from happening,”

3) Keep Your System Up to Date: Hackers live for
Safety4See, 2019. [Online]. Available:
computers that are out-of-date and haven't had security
https://safety4sea.com/how-to-prevent-cyber-attacks-from-
updates or patches installed in an exceedingly long time. happening/.
They've studied ways in which to gain access to your
computer, and if you haven't installed updates or security
patches, then you are opening the door and alluring them
in[5][6]. If you'll enable automatic updates on your
computer, do it. If not, then make it a practice to instantly
install updates and patches as shortly as you're notified that
they're available. Keeping your computer system updated
is one of your strongest weapons against cyberattacks.

4) Always Have a Backup: If all else fails, having a backup

of all of your files ensures that you simply will be back to
normal in no time. The rule of thumb is that you simply
should create a backup anytime you make a modification to
your computer, like adding a brand-new program or
changing settings, or a minimum of once per week. The
backup ought to even be kept separate from your computer.
Back your files up to the cloud or a removable hard drive,
then if your data does end up encrypted, you'll simply
restore from your backup and be okay.

VIII. CONCLUSION
Though not all individuals are victims of cybercrimes,
they're still in danger. Crimes by computer vary, and that
they don’t always occur behind the computer, however they
executed by a computer. The hacker’s identity is ranged
between 12 to 67 years old. The hacker might live 3
continents faraway from its victim, and that they wouldn’t
even know they were being hacked. Crimes done behind
the computer are the 21st century’s downside. With the
technology increasing, criminals don’t ought to rob banks,
nor do they need to be outside in order to commit any crime.
Cybercriminals have everything they need at their
fingertips. Their weapons aren’t guns anymore; they attack
with mouse cursors and passwords.

REFERENCES
[1] Cisco, “What Is Cybersecurity?” [Online]. Available:
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/security/what-is-
cybersecurity.html.

[2] N. S. Incorporated, “WHY TALOS: Threat Intelligence Like

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