hidden person in green and black hoodie symbolizing cyber attacks

What Every Company Should Know About Cyber Attacks and Cyber Insurance

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Cyber attacks — you’ve probably heard about them, but how bad can they really be? Are they really one of the greatest threats to business in the 21st century? Or is that all hype?

The truth is, if you run a business, you need to care about cyber attack protection.

This article will walk you through everything you need to know about cyber attack protection and teach you a bit about business cyber insurance as well. It will do this by first walking you through the most popular types of cybersecurity attacks, then telling you why that means you need to get insurance.

Keep reading to learn more.

Phishing

Phishing is a simple phenomenon whereby a cybercriminal disguises themself as a legitimate business and asks someone for their password — usually claiming that the person needs to confirm their password. They use the password to wreak all sorts of havoc on a business.

What’s scary about phishing is how hard it is to prevent it. In our ever-connected world of cloud technologies, a cybercriminal could target the most vulnerable member of your business — perhaps the little old lady who doesn’t know much about computers — take their password and gain access to important data.

The best thing you can do to prevent this type of attack is to educate your company. The best way to do this is to host a meeting where you explain the issue. However, cybercriminals are only getting smarter, so it’s important to make sure that you stay ensured.

Malware

Malware is one of the biggest threats to cybersecurity. It refers to any sort of software designed to damage you and steal your information. Mal stands for malicious and ware stands for software.

Cybercriminals don’t carry out all of their dirty work themselves. These days, they often design software that does it for them, allowing them to keep their hands clean.

There are several different types of malware.

Ransomeware

Ransomeware is perhaps the most common and scary type of malware facing the world way. Ransomware attacks come onto your computer through links set in place by the criminals, encrypt important files of yours, and don’t let you back on them until you pay a ransom.

There’s often not much that can be done to fix a ransomware attack when it happens, especially when you need access to your data. You’ll often need to bite the bullet and pay the criminals. This is why it’s key to have cybercrime insurance.

A particularly scary type of ransomware is called Jigsaw. Jigsaw — named after the Saw horror series — encrypts your files and deletes an important file every hour permanently.

Lockers

Lockers are similar to ransomware. However, instead of encrypting your files, they lock you out of them. You often won’t be able to get past a certain lock screen unless you pay a certain amount of money.

Scareware

Scareware is one of the most malicious types of malware out there because it plays on the most vulnerable human emotions. Scareware programs will often disguise themselves as police and convince users they have engaged in illegal activity that they have to pay a fine for

Scareware often disguises, ironically, as anti-virus software. They’ll ask for your credit card info in order to fix your computer, then make off with your money.

Brute Force Attacks

Bruce force attacks are an old-school type of hacking strategy, but they’re still very useful today. A hacker using a brute force attack will simply type in someone’s username and plug in all of the most popular passwords out there.

This is primitive but stunningly effective. Check out this list of the most popular passwords out there. If your password is on this list, you might be the subject of one of these hacks.

Once again, the only way to prevent this is to inform your employees about this threat.

Additionally, you should let them know that they shouldn’t write down their passwords on a piece of paper; the paper could get thrown in the trash, and cybercriminals are known to dig through the trash. Tell them that they can’t use the same password they use for other accounts, criminals often try the passwords they crack in as many places as possible.

One should also keep in mind the growing presence of AI. As AI becomes more sophisticated, you can bet it will end up in the hands of some of the most dangerous cybercriminals. It’s a very real possibility that they’ll be able to design AI to brute force your passwords — even if they aren’t cliche.

Sometimes, you can’t prevent a cyber attack. The best solution is to make sure that you’re ensured so you can get your business back up and running as soon as possible.

What to Know About Cyber Insurance

With more people online, there are more cybercrime attacks in history than ever before. All of this practice means that cybercriminals are only going to get smarter in the coming decade.

This will increase the chance that your business will be hit by a cybercriminal attack. In the future, we’re going to have to view cybercrime like other sorts of crime — simply a part of life. This is why it’s important to get insurance now; don’t wait until after you’re hit to wise up.

If you’re concerned about cybercrime (as you should be), get a quote as soon as possible. Soon enough, everyone is going to want cyber insurance, which will cause the rates to go up. Save yourself money and invest now.

Learn About Cyber Attacks

As you see, cyber attacks can happen to anyone. You no longer have to be a high-profile target to get hit. In the future, everyone is going to have to care deeply about cybersecurity.

Study the most common attacks that happen as a result of phishing, malware, and brute force and consider how technology will exacerbate these problems. Invest in cyber insurance now, so you don’t have to later.

For more information, contact us today.

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Allied Insurance Managers's Bio

Headquartered in Rochester Hills, Mich., Allied Insurance Managers is one of the largest, privately-owned, independent insurance agencies in Michigan.