Nowadays, you’re more likely to hear one or two reports about some massive data breaches every other week on the news. It’s almost unimaginable how many users are affected by it.
A 2019 Cybersecurity Ventures report predicts that by 2021, cybercrime will cost the world over 6 trillion dollars, up from 3 trillion dollars in 2015. In the next 20 years, cybercrime will become one of the biggest challenges for mankind.
Consequently, it’s only in your best interest to take the necessary steps so that you don’t fall victim to a cybercrime. In this post, we’ve compiled some of the typical application entry points to help you in stopping hackers cold.
Lookout For These Entry points That Hackers Use to Breach Data
-
Unprotected APIs
Modern applications are becoming more critical, more complex, and more connected. This has led to an exponential increase in the difficulty of attaining application security and unprotected APIs are among the top security risks of web applications companies face today.
If your organization uses custom applications that utilize APIs, you’re likely exposing your valuable and confidential data to cybercriminals without realizing it. Although in-house application developers spend a lot of their time protecting your app itself, from threats, the outside developer’s APIs you’re using to power your software might be a gaping hole for hackers to breach your business.
It’s important to review your APIs end-user agreements and check for vulnerabilities by conducting penetration tests. You can also use proven security solutions & separate API security and API implementation into different tiers which will allow an API developer to prioritize the application domain completely.
-
Unsecured Cloud Storage
While there’s a lot of benefits that cloud storage and cloud computing offer, and it seems like most organizations are keen on working with clouds. However, before trusting the confidential data of your business to any 3rd-party cloud solution, you need to make sure it has tight security.
Most businesses have benefited from cloud computing, which includes increased efficiency of collaborative working & delivery of digital assets. That said, it’s not without flaws. By having your company’s sensitive data or private data stored outside of your network, it’s vulnerable to cybercriminals.
Cloud storage solutions can make your company prone to data loss, data breaches, and service hijacking. Many leading companies like Microsoft and Facebook failed to ensure if their cloud service providers had proper security, which led to costly data breaches.
If you’re going to rely on 3rd party solutions for outsourcing your personal data, you need to choose carefully and actively participate in safeguarding your data. Good quality cybersecurity, as well as two-factor authentication, are vital for companies that use cloud services.
-
Free Code
Most websites offer code snippets that can be used on your site for free. It only requires you to download it and save both time and money. While it might seem like a good deal, it might turn out to be a costly mistake for your business.
While free, secure, and clean codes do exist online, most of them are poorly written. Avoid using free code snippets for mission-critical sites by preventing hackers from accessing embedded entry points in public code.
-
Old Websites
Many sites carry malware and various other viruses, some without even realizing it. Hackers can breach an organization’s website, cross-site scripting, or/and utilize it to deploy viruses and malware onto unsuspecting visitors.
The internet is flooded with abandoned & unprotected half-built websites, which are the hunting ground for cybercriminals who are looking for risk-free and easy hacking opportunities. Though it’s true that a majority of these sites contain nothing but a few dummy accounts and email addresses, a hacker can strike a goldmine. Occasionally, legacy and demo websites for large organizations are still linked to the business servers and offers a nice entry point for breaching confidential data. To protect your enterprise, you need to remove old sites completely from online and limit which websites have access to your company’s servers.
-
Emails
Email is a common entry point, from malware to phishing. Email phishing is among the oldest and also the most successful techniques of hacking. Hackers send out thousands of emails disguised as genuine communication from a subscription channel, online payment site, or a bank.
The email includes a link attached, which the recipient needs to click for verifying their account information. Once the victim provides their log-in details, the hacker withdraws money from that account and wires it back to their account.
Phishing emails can have serious consequences for individuals that provide their information to scammers. They can also affect the reputation of the business they’re spoofing. You can safeguard yourself from email phishing by protecting your computer with security software. Also, if you back up your data, make sure it’s not connected to the home network.
-
Network
A network refers to a collection of servers, computers, and network devices connected to each other. Though this allows organizations to share data easily, it’s vulnerable to hackers.
Cybercriminals typically use the network as a way to transport malware from the inside, however, some threats can attack directly from the outside.
-
IoT
Connected devices are among the latest entry points for cybercriminals. If you’ve got connected devices, you might be opening up your business to cyberattacks. This is because most IoT devices tend to have poor engagement implementation between the supporting cloud service and the device. As such, most devices become vulnerable to cyber threats and in some instances, it allows hackers to take over the IoT devices and deploy further attacks. By 2020, the world will have fifty billion connected devices. This is why it’s very important that these devices, as well as our business, are protected.
-
Unsecured-Wifi
Public or unsecured Wifi is not only dangerous for users but is also hazardous for providers. By providing unsecured internet access to guests or staff, you might open up yourself to cyber threats.
You can use cybersecurity software to safeguard your business from such cyber threats.
In the end, it’s your responsibility to safeguard your consumers’ confidential data and your data. As long as online security is of concern, no one business is perfect. However, every company can do better and identifying the aforementioned application entry points is the first step.
