Confronting Cyber-attacks in 2018

By CIOReview | Tuesday, December 19, 2017

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Keeping pace with the evolving technology, cyber attacks have grown increasingly sophisticated. Yet, security software continues to be ineffective in the face of these attacks, take, for instance, the Equifax hack or the WannaCry ransomware attack. Instead of giving up on security software, one can follow few trends that would assist them in keeping their data safe from an attacker. One can start by maintaining a back-up for all their information, updating their software, and utilizing additional authentication apps to lock their accounts.

The following are the reasons why one should gear up in 2018 to face cyber-attacks:

1. Back-ups become crucial as ransomware attacks get sneakier: The coming year will witness stealthier ransomware attacks that will be hard to detect by consumer security products. Rather than running software that will be flagged as malicious, attackers will utilize codes that seem legitimate as it runs in a program like Microsoft Word. In addition to waiting for antivirus tools to catch up, one should keep backups of files in cloud and external devices. Another way to mitigate a ransomware attack is through patching of all the systems.

2. Not relying solely on passwords: It is an established fact that passwords barely function as a security tool against attackers. The advent of 2018 will witness multiple methods to unlock a device or account, for instance, iPhone X’s face recognition technology.

3. Employing two-factor authentication: By adding another step to the login process, this method ensures that the password alone is not sufficient to get into a system or account. Facebook and Google have already incorporated such technology and there’s a wave of adoption among other popular services too.

4. Do not ignore security software: It is true that security software continues to be a target for hackers, who trick naïve users into downloading malicious software; which results in high-level access to the system. Yet, security software is one of the most prevalent methods against such attacks.