Main Types of Malware and Tools to Protect Yourself Online Better
Today technology is an inevitable part of modern life. Computers changed how we receive information, communicate, and impact spending habits. According to statistics, more than a quarter of the world’s population shop online.
It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to correlate online financial transactions with increased cybercrime rates. Currently, the Internet is plagued by cybercrime, and it’s not improving. It is getting worse. In this article, you will find the most common types of malware in 2022, with tools to protect your online valuables.
Phishing
Phishing is an old hacking and social engineering technique dating back to the early 90s. In 2021, more than 80% of reported security issues involved Phishing. Most often, Phishing is carried out via fraudulent emails. Cybercriminals send thousands of emails asking to confirm banking details, call a specific number, or click on an infectious link.
Cybercriminals successfully exploited the Covid-19 crisis to improve email legitimacy and pose a sense of urgency regarding healthcare. Social networks do not help by providing hackers with personalized data to use in Phishing scams.
Paradoxically, the best defense against Phishing does not involve software. Cybersecurity training focused on identifying Phishing scams is the first line of defense. Participants will learn to identify fraudulent emails, infectious backlinks, most common Phishing tactics, mobile device security, and more. Phishing heavily relies on human error. If people become more aware of online dangers, they will be less likely to fall victim to social engineering.
Ransomware
In 2022, ransomware is by far the most damaging cyber threat. In the last couple of years, ransomware managed to paralyze Ireland’s healthcare sector, halt U.S. Colonial Pipeline operations, breach Baltimore’s government servers, and more. These relatively recent attacks are against crucial public sectors. However, the most prominent WannaCry ransomware attack infected over 200,000 devices running Microsoft Windows, whether a business or a casual Internet user.
Ransomware is frequently delivered via Phishing scams, so the discussed Phishing protection training applies here as well. However, it is essential to back up data regularly. Ransomware encrypts data on a device and then blackmails the user for ransom. You can restore the data and report the incident to the local authorities if you have a secure and recent backup.
Regarding backups, apply the golden 3-2-1 rule. Have one primary backup and two copies of your data, and save them on two different media with one backup file offsite and offline. This will make ransomware attacks less likely to damage your data.
Online Account Security
One of the most common threats casual Internet users face is the security of their online accounts. Social media accounts store a lot of private information, Steam accounts can be worth thousands of dollars, and Instagram accounts are a primary source of income for many people. In 2021, a spike in Credential Stuffing Attacks attempted to take over named accounts and extract valuable information.
The best way to protect your online accounts is to improve password management habits. First, choose a reliable password manager to store dozens of unique and strong passwords. Avoid using the same password twice, and don’t use easy-to-guess passwords. Whenever possible, enable two or multi-factor authentication. These easy steps will protect against most password-hacking attempts.
This list is by no means exhaustive, but it focuses on the most common cyber threats in 2022. Discussed software and cybersecurity training will significantly decrease the chances of getting hacked because most people still don’t use any online protection.
