7 Common Cyber Criminal Tactics to Watch Out For

The rising frequency of cyber crime in the UK and across the world is a cause for concern for businesses across different industries. 

Cyber crimes are attempts by cyber criminals, hackers or other malicious individuals to gain unauthorised access to a computer network or system. These attacks often target a range of victims, from individual users to organisations and even governments, which begs the question, can cyber crime be curbed?

With cyber threats being more prevalent than ever before, all businesses need to be aware of the various forms of cyber attacks to protect themselves. 

Cyber criminals are great at finding new and innovative ways to steal information, identities, and money from their victims. With new motives and the increasing sophistication of cyber criminals, many security teams struggle to maintain IT system security. 

However, cyber criminals don’t solely rely on new methods; there are certain tried and tested cyber criminal tactics that they use again and again.

In this article, we’ll examine seven common cyber criminal tactics your business needs to watch out for to keep your systems secure. 

Let’s begin!

1) Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks

A Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack is a targeted attack that floods a network with false requests to disrupt a business’s operations. 

During a DoS attack, your users won’t be able to perform routine and important tasks, such as accessing emails, online accounts, and other resources operating from a compromised network or computer. 

Many DoS attacks don’t result in the loss of data and can typically be resolved without paying a ransom. However, they cost their victim organisation’s time, money, and other resources to restore normal business operations. 

2) Phishing

Among cyber criminal tactics, phishing is a highly effective form of attack. Through phishing, victims are enticed to share sensitive information or download malicious files that install viruses onto their systems. 

Phishing campaigns rely on social engineering techniques, and although they’re easy to launch, they can cause much chaos. While emails are the typical medium used, phishing attacks can also occur through text messages (SMS phishing or smishing) and phone calls (voice phishing or vishing). 

You can proactively prevent phishing attacks by thinking about the different types of emails you open and the links you click on. Pay close attention to the email header and look for grammatical errors to avoid clicking on anything that looks suspicious. 

3) Supply Chain Attacks

A supply chain attack targets a trusted third-party vendor who offers services or software that are essential to your organisation’s supply chain. Unlike many traditional cyber criminal tactics, supply chain attacks are an indirect threat to the functioning of your organisation. 

Software supply chain attacks may inject malicious code into an application to infect all users of said app. Meanwhile, hardware supply chain attacks compromise the physical components of your network. 

Software supply chains are considered more vulnerable as modern software isn’t written from scratch. It uses many off-the-shelf software components, such as third-party APIs and open-source code, making it easier to target. 

4) Social Engineering Attacks

Social engineering is a technique where cyber attackers use psychological tactics to manipulate people to carry out a desired action.

In contrast to many cyber criminal tactics, social engineering uses powerful motivators, such as love, money, fear, and status, to gather sensitive information. 

These attackers then use this information to extort your organisation or leverage it for a competitive advantage. 

5) Code Injection Attacks

Code injection involves the attacker injecting malicious code into a vulnerable device or network to change its course of action. 

Once injected, the code is interpreted by the application, which can completely change the way the program runs. Code injection attacks can lead to severe consequences, such as data loss, corruption, or even a complete host takeover.

This type of attack, among other cyber criminal tactics, exploits software vulnerabilities to manipulate your systems and compromise IT security. Reduce the risk of code injection attacks by avoiding untrustworthy data sources, fixing incorrect server configurations, and conducting regular vulnerability assessments.  

6) IoT-Based Attacks

An Internet of Things (IoT) attack targets an IoT device or network. Once compromised, the cyber attacker can take control of your device, steal data or link a group of infected devices to launch DoS or DDoS attacks. 

IoT devices include traditional endpoints such as computers, mobile phones, tablets, and servers, as well as non-traditional devices such as cameras, printers, and other appliances. 

With the number of connected devices only expected to grow, many cyber security experts believe that the number of IoT attacks will also increase. Additionally, the adoption of 5G networks, which will further fuel the use of connected devices, may also increase the frequency of such attacks. 

7) Insider Threats

Typically, IT teams solely focus on identifying threats external to the organisation. However, they only see half of the picture when it comes to cyber criminal tactics. 

Insider threats are internal factors such as current or ex-employees that may pose a danger to your organisation as they have direct access to the company network and sensitive data. With this access to key information, they can help carry out various malicious attacks. 

Many insider threats are motivated by the potential for financial gain or emotional coercion. Some insider threats are not malicious but rather a result of negligence. 

Implement comprehensive cyber security training sessions that teach employees to be aware of potential attacks to effectively combat cyber threats. 

Contact Redpalm to Tackle Cyber Criminals and Improve IT Security 

In today’s connected world, being aware of what cyber criminal tactics you need to look out for and having a strong cyber security plan is essential. 

At Redpalm, our cyber security solutions help you protect your business against various internal and external cyber threats. 

We’re a trusted cyber security partner that can help empower your business with the tools to strengthen the security of your network. Armed with knowledge and expertise, our Microsoft-certified experts can help you effectively identify and mitigate security risks. 

We also offer various other services such as proactive monitoring, incident response, cloud services, technology procurement, IT audits and health checks, and more. 

To learn more about our services, click here or contact us to schedule an appointment today.