What’s Attacking Your Digital Perimeter Today?

This question may prove overwhelmingly open-ended; after all, “what isn’t attacking your digital perimeter?” seems the more accurate question.

Yet you cannot hope to defend your digital perimeter if you don’t know what threats pose the most danger to you. You need a comprehensive knowledge of the most common attacks of the day if you wish to support your next-gen endpoint security solution.

With that in mind, we compiled a few notes about what’s attacking your digital perimeter today?

Ransomware

Ransomware experienced something of a decline over the past year, with cryptocurrency mining malware taking its place as the top threat to the digital perimeter. Hackers prefer cryptojacking attacks for their subtly, their evasiveness, and their guaranteed profitability. However, with the decline of cryptocurrency values, ransomware looks poised to make a resurgence.

If ransomware penetrates your digital perimeter, it can encrypt your files and hold them hostage until the perpetrators receive payment. Additionally, ransomware can disrupt your business processes or completely shut down an industrial IoT (IIoT) device in your manufacturing facilities. Worse, even paying the ransom doesn’t guarantee the hackers won’t attack you again.

In addition to fortifying your perimeter through endpoint security, you should invest in a strong backup and disaster recovery solution.  

Targeted Phishing Attacks   

Cryptocurrency mining malware may serve as the top threat, but phishing continues its reign as the top attack tactic. Phishing attacks disguise themselves as legitimate communications such as emails so victims click on fraudulent links or surrender their credentials. Most employees can recognize the more blatant phishing attacks, as they often contain critical mistakes such as spelling errors or inaccurate branding.

However, hackers develop their phishing attacks to look more legitimate and more urgent. Targeted phishing attacks craft their messages with information garnered from social media and other business communications to better fool employees. Most employees can recognize a fraudulent message from their bank. Fewer can recognize a fake message from their CEO asking them to purchase some gift cards for an office raffle.

Your employees constitute the largest part of your digital perimeter. Engaging and continual cybersecurity training should strengthen their ability to defend against threats. However, you must also deploy a next-gen endpoint security solution with email security which reduces the number of phishing attacks to support them.

Cryptocurrency Mining Malware

The future of cryptocurrency mining malware remains murky; if cryptocurrency drops in value significantly it may cause hackers to abandon the malware altogether.

For the time being, cryptojacking still poses a serious threat to your digital perimeter. Such attacks can dwell on your network for months before discovery, exploiting your processing power and electricity for their own gain.  

Most especially, cryptocurrency mining malware prefers breaking through the fragile digital perimeter around IoT devices. IoT devices rarely contain any kind of endpoint security inherently. Without the visibility provided by a next-gen endpoint security solution, your IT security team won’t detect cryptojacking attacks until it proves far too late. Furthermore, endpoint protection platforms should provide your connected devices with the perimeter they need.