Cybersecurity Must Deal with the Professional Hacker

Business cybersecurity must contend with a new kind of threat: the professional hacker. For years, the discourse around hackers pictured them as basement dwellers with black hoodies. However, this image no longer reflects reality. 

The professional hacker now works within a corporate structure and can benefit from a network of fellow professionals. As a result, the malware and cyber-attacks targeting enterprises today prove increasingly agile and effective. 

Widget not in any sidebars
How to Deal with the Professional Hacker

1. Watch for Reconnaissance

A major component of the professional hacker’s strategy involves reconnaissance missions. Hackers no longer pick their targets randomly; instead, they perform the digital equivalent of stake-outs. They seek out vulnerabilities, employee behaviors, the databases containing sensitive information—the possible attack vectors and targets. 

Therefore, your business needs cybersecurity visibility that enables you to detect passive threats and intruders. You need breach detection that can trigger before a true breach of information occurs. Such cybersecurity, often based in SIEM, can find anomalous behaviors and trigger alerts for immediate investigations. 

2. Beware Collaboration via The Dark Web

The Dark Web refers to sections of the Internet not indexed by Google or other search engines. On these sites, black market sales proliferate. Cybercriminals access the Dark Web to obtain hacking kits, services, data stolen, and other illegal or dangerous goods.  

The Dark Web represents a true shift in the criminal tactics of the professional hacker. Now, even the most inexperienced threat actor can buy a malware or DDoS attack for as little as a dollar. More advanced attacks could sell for $1,000. 

Worse, black-market vendors offer a malicious version of tech support; they provide quality standards, money-back guarantees, and even tutorials. So even the inexperienced hacker could wield weapons that your legacy solution can’t defend against or even detect. In turn, this means that your enterprise could suffer from continuous attacks from all sides. 

Solutions like next-generation SIEM cybersecurity can help prevent these kinds of attacks through integrated threat intelligence. SIEM solutions provide multiple feeds from various sources to help enterprises learn about hacker tactics and create suitable defenses. 

3. The Professional Hacker Spares No Business

Did you know that 60 percent of small businesses that suffer a breach go out of business within six months? 

Small businesses are not immune from the predations of the professional hacker. In fact, they suffer more than large businesses, as they become targeted far more often. 

Here’s why: the professional hacker doesn’t seek to cause disruptions for no reason. They aren’t motivated ideologically, or at least not as much as amateurs. Instead, professionals seek to make the rent through their crimes. So they target businesses that present the most opportunity to make money, not necessarily to make a criminal reputation. 

This underlines an essential truth about cybersecurity: no one is safe. Even small businesses could end up suffering from a cyberattack, and therefore each business needs cyber protections. While cybersecurity cannot prevent every attack, it can mitigate a fair number of attacks and deter other hackers. 

How to Learn More

In conclusion, check out the Solutions Review SIEM Buyer’s Guide for more on the top solution providers and their key capabilities.

Widget not in any sidebars