D1 Discuss recent network threats
The rate of network attacks has been rapidly increasing recently. There are many types of
network threats nowadays.
One of it is ransomware threats to one’s computer. These ransomware attacks were
reignited recently when the use of cryptocurrency has been used more often. Also, there are
a lot of online transactions of money done nowadays. Therefore, these hackers take this as
an opportunity to hack and demand a ransom to get back the users’ data or so on. These
hackers will threaten to delete important files, encrypt the files or infect a database to get
money. Therefore, it is essential for companies and users to keep a backup of the computers
and network data safely. Examples of ransomware attacks are locker ransomware and
crypto ransomware. Locker ransomware is where the attacker locks the victim and prevent
them from using the device. The attackers do not encrypt the files but carry out ransom
attack so the attacker can demand a ransom from victim to unlock the device. Whereas
crypto ransomware encrypts important file and information on the computer so the victim
cannot access them and the attacker makes money by demanding that victims pay to get the
files back.
Ransomware attacks have extensive economic harm and downtime on many industries
including local governments, police departments, healthcare providers, financial services
institutions and logistics company. An example of a ransomware attack is the NHS. In 2017,
the National Health Service (NHS) was brought to a standstill to the WannaCry outbreak
afflicting over 150 countries and 200,000 computers resulting in the cancellation of
thousands of appointments and operations, as well as the frantic of emergency patients
from the emergency centres. Staff was asked to their own mobiles or pen and paper after the
attack.
Ransomware attacks can be avoided by having a good security and network hygiene
measures such as segmenting networks to make it difficult for ransomware to spread from
system to system by keeping antimalware software up to date and patching the
vulnerabilities in applications and operating systems aa quickly as possible. However, if
frequent backup is important as it is the fool proof defence against ransomware. Systems
are compromised and it can simply identify attack and restore systems from clean backups
before the incursion. Organisations should keep multiple copies of patient data and critical
business both in the cloud and locally.
Jessreen Sandhu
The rate of network attacks has been rapidly increasing recently. There are many types of
network threats nowadays.
One of it is ransomware threats to one’s computer. These ransomware attacks were
reignited recently when the use of cryptocurrency has been used more often. Also, there are
a lot of online transactions of money done nowadays. Therefore, these hackers take this as
an opportunity to hack and demand a ransom to get back the users’ data or so on. These
hackers will threaten to delete important files, encrypt the files or infect a database to get
money. Therefore, it is essential for companies and users to keep a backup of the computers
and network data safely. Examples of ransomware attacks are locker ransomware and
crypto ransomware. Locker ransomware is where the attacker locks the victim and prevent
them from using the device. The attackers do not encrypt the files but carry out ransom
attack so the attacker can demand a ransom from victim to unlock the device. Whereas
crypto ransomware encrypts important file and information on the computer so the victim
cannot access them and the attacker makes money by demanding that victims pay to get the
files back.
Ransomware attacks have extensive economic harm and downtime on many industries
including local governments, police departments, healthcare providers, financial services
institutions and logistics company. An example of a ransomware attack is the NHS. In 2017,
the National Health Service (NHS) was brought to a standstill to the WannaCry outbreak
afflicting over 150 countries and 200,000 computers resulting in the cancellation of
thousands of appointments and operations, as well as the frantic of emergency patients
from the emergency centres. Staff was asked to their own mobiles or pen and paper after the
attack.
Ransomware attacks can be avoided by having a good security and network hygiene
measures such as segmenting networks to make it difficult for ransomware to spread from
system to system by keeping antimalware software up to date and patching the
vulnerabilities in applications and operating systems aa quickly as possible. However, if
frequent backup is important as it is the fool proof defence against ransomware. Systems
are compromised and it can simply identify attack and restore systems from clean backups
before the incursion. Organisations should keep multiple copies of patient data and critical
business both in the cloud and locally.
Jessreen Sandhu
