The 'Everything? Guide to Cyber Attacks

Q: What is the main point?

According to Forbes, **NASA confirmed that its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) was hacked in the year 2019****.** One of the biggest cyberattacks witnessed till now.

Updated November 2026. This was first published on 20 May 2021. The idea is the same. Any number below is what the original piece said then. It is not a new count.

Key takeaways

According to Forbes, NASA confirmed that its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) was hacked in the year 2019**.** One of the biggest cyberattacks witnessed till now.
Cyber-attacks have become the biggest social menace for many corporations.
It can cost millions to big companies and harm their reputation in the corporate world.

According to Forbes, NASA confirmed that its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) was hacked in the year 2019**.** One of the biggest cyberattacks witnessed till now.

Cyber-attacks have become the biggest social menace for many corporations. It can cost millions to big companies and harm their reputation in the corporate world. Not only large companies, but it has also affected many people.

This article will explain everything you need to know about cyberattacks, what they are, the types of cyberattacks, the major causes of cyberattacks, and how to prevent them.

What is a Cyber Attack? #

In simple words, crashing into someone’s system using unfair means could be an example of a cyberattack. The principal aim of the attacker is to misuse someone’s credentials and valuable data. The tools used for this purpose are referred to as cyberweapons. The attacker can either be an individual or a group of people.

Cyberattacks have been increasing, and to date, no one has escaped its grip. From common people to big corporations like Google, Yahoo, etc., everyone got engulfed by it.

Some common types of cyber-attacks are listed below: #

Malware** - Malware is malicious software that can harm a computer system or a network. There is many malware, including Trojan horses, worms, ransomware, adware, computer viruses, spyware, etc.

Phishing** - A fraudulent message, e-mail, or phone call aiming at revealing sensitive information from people can be termed Phishing. It is the most common type of cyberattack. These attacks are easy to judge as the spoofed messages or emails have some inadequacy like incorrect domain names or spelling mistakes.

Denial-of-service attack (DoS)** - As the name suggests, in this type of attack, the owner of the system is denied access to it. It is generally challenging to get rid of this type of attack as it originates from a variety of sources, and tackling only one source won’t be enough.

SQL Injection** - In this type of cyberattack, the web applications which use SQL are targeted. The statistics show that SQL injection now represents nearly two-thirds (65.1%) of all web application attacks. That’s a sharp increase from 44% of web application layer attacks that SQL Injection represented just two years ago.

Zero-day exploit** - Zero-day, which means it does not even take a day for the attacker to exploit a user in this attack. It occurs the same day on which a system vulnerability is caught. And before it is cured, it gets exploited by the attacker.

Man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack** - This attack is observed in cryptography, where a hacker enters a conversation and manipulates it. Still, the two parties believe that they are directly conversing with each other. According to Netcraft, man-in-the-middle attacks were thought to pose a threat to 95% of HTTPS servers in 2016. More than one-third of exploitation of inadvertent weaknesses involved MitM attacks, according to IBM’s X- ForceThreat Intelligence Index of 2018.

Most catastrophic cyberattacks of the decade #

The past decade has witnessed a tremendous increase in cyberattacks. These cyberattacks have shaken the roots of some popular companies.

Below are a few incidents of cyberattack that took place in past few years.

Twitter -** The famous social networking site Twitter was hacked in July 2020**.** One hundred twenty millionuser accounts were hacked, including past presidents of the US andfamous personalities like Elon Musk. The hacker transferred more than $100,000 in Bitcoins to his account.

Adobe Acrobat-** The popular software used for editing PDF files, Adobe Acrobat was hacked in October 2013. One fifty-three million user records were hacked. Weeks of research has shown that many credentials of people like passwords, credit and debit information was exposed in this hack.

Yahoo-** One of the internet’s leading search engines, Yahoo was hacked in 2013 and 2014. One million accounts were hacked in 2013, and three million accounts were hacked in the year 2014 by a different hacker. It cost the company three hundred fifty million dollars. The timing of the hack being announced was terrible, as it was when Yahoo was in the process of being acquired by Verizon.

Dub smash-** A New York-based video messaging platform, Dub smash was hacked in December 2018**.** One sixty-two million user accounts were hacked. It acknowledged the data breach and information being sold but could not find a valid reason for the breach and exactly how many users got affected.

LinkedIn**- A leading social media platform for business associates, Linkedin was hacked in 2015-16. Three million user accounts were hacked in 2015 and credentials were sold to Russian hacker forums, and one hundred sixty-five million user accounts were hacked in 2016 by the same hacker who sold data for five bitcoins. LinkedIn acknowledged the data breach and reset the passwords of the affected accounts.

Canva**- A famous Australian graphic designing software, Canva was hacked in May 2019. One thirty-seven million user accounts were hacked. A post by Canva said that the hackers were able to see but not steal the data. Later the accounts with stolen passwords were decrypted, and the users were notified to reset their passwords using OAuth tokens. The attacker claimed to have stolen OAuth tokens of users who logged in using google accounts.

Causes of Cyber Attacks #

16-year-old Kevin Mitnick executed the first-ever cyberattack in 1976. He hacked into The Ark, a computer at the Digital Equipment Corporation; this was the first time the world was introduced to cybercrimes. Since then, these cases have only been increasing. There are over 2200 cyber-attacks per day, which breaks down to one cyber attack every 39 seconds. What might be the reason for the proliferation of cybercrimes at such mind-wrecking rates? The cybercriminals are always on the outlook of making tons of money by breaching data.

System vulnerabilities are the weaknesses in a system that make it easier for attacks and data breaches. As soon as the attacker finds out a vulnerability in a system, they attack it and exploit the data.

2. Easy Accessibility #

The more accessible the system will be, the much less time it will take for the hacker to breach data. It’s not very difficult for the attackers to crack a code to get access to a system. “123456” is the most commonly used password in 2020, with 2,543,285 people using it.

3. Human Error #

According to a study by IBM, human error is the major cause of 95% of cybersecurity breaches. If we eliminate human error, 19 out of 20 cyber breaches can be avoided entirely.

4. BYOD Policies #

Bring-Your-Own-Device policies are still prevailing in many companies and are a significant cause of cyber threats. Under this policy, the employees use the same system for their personal and professional work. The employee might surf on a website that is not trustworthy. Malicious sites can hack the system and breach out some company’s critical credentials, which could create a big problem.

Prevention is better than Cure! #

Here is the list of some main preventions you can take to protect yourself from these Cyber-attacks.

Preventions of Cyber Attacks #

Keeping in mind the drastic increase in cyber-attacks, the need of the hour is to follow some preventive measures.

When you receive an update notification, download the update immediately. When you have an updated system, the chances of getting attacked by a cybercriminal are significantly less. The updated system and latest software offer better security services.

2. Endpoint Protection #

When laptops, mobile phones, tablets, etc., are connected to the systems used for professional work, there is an increase in the pathways leading hackers to attack the network. Certain endpoint protection platforms are quick at detecting, analyzing, and blocking suspicious networks. These software will protect your system from the attacker.

3. Firewall Installation #

A firewall is a network security device that acts as a barrier between the system and the external sources. It filters out the sources trying to get unauthorized access to a computer or a network system. A firewall can identify a malicious code and can stop it from reaching the system.

4. Data Backup #

When a system is attacked, it could lead to loss of data. Backing up data is an advantageous way of avoiding the crucial data files.

5. Identity & Access Management #

A company can prevent data breaches by limiting the access that they have given to the employees. The employees should only get access to the system they are working on and not more than that. There can be an insider attack that can cause data breaches.

Conclusion #

The COVID upsurge has forced each of us to work from home, consequently increasing vulnerability to cyberattacks. Thus, having a reliable security framework in place is of paramount importance.

Securing your personal data as well as enterprise information is important, since both are equally susceptible to cyber attacks. And thus, pose a threat to the confidentiality of the information.

Following the preventive measures that we discussed earlier, you can definitely mitigate the risk of cyber attack to a very large extent, if not completely. You should be very proactive while dealing with any sensitive data or information. Using strong passwords, keeping all personal information in encrypted folders, and following the security policies can definitely save you from falling prey to cyber attacks.

Questions and answers #

What is the main point? #