Cybercriminals are forever looking to find new vulnerabilities, exploit new backdoors, and build more powerful software designed to get the details and data to sell on the dark web. All this means that cybersecurity is far from a static field: it’s always playing catch-up, trying to locate the next big attack and how it might be avoided. For small and medium-sized firms with extensive digital architecture, such new vulnerabilities are a direct concern. So this article is all about identifying novel threats and learning how to deal with them immediately.
Digital Review
Your first port of call when thinking about new threats and; how to respond to them is to look at the entirety of your digital backend. You’re looking not only at your own code but at all of the software and programs that you use and all of the APIs you’re engaged with. Make a list of all of these firms, programs, and plug-ins, and keep updating it as you evolve your digital infrastructure. This list will be handy when one of these providers is hacked.
Why? Because you’ll want to disengage immediately from those providers, partnering instead with a competitor product that hasn’t been breached. It’s not worth the risk of staying loyal, given that a breached software provider may well provide cybercriminals with access to your data. Don’t let another firm’s breach become your problem.
News Reporting
There are plenty of news stories across the year that detail new and emerging hacks and breaches. These often focus on large-scale attacks that affect hundreds and sometimes thousands of businesses. If you follow more in-depth cybersecurity blogs, you’ll find even small cyberattacks detailed and remarked upon, with thoughtful analysis and expert advice on how to patch up your back end in order to avoid a similar breach.
The brilliant thing about this reporting is that it’s often free and often emerges before the official cybersecurity reports, which usually number hundreds of pages after forensic investigations. So by following industry news, you’ll have a better understanding of how and when an attack might target your business.
Specific Attacks
Sometimes, a specific attack is unearthed that all firms vulnerable to it must act on as soon as possible to avoid losing their data or experiencing a breach. This is the case for emerging threats such as Log4j, which was first reported in December 2021 and has been on the minds of many cybersecurity professionals ever since. It’s also the case for those vulnerabilities found in hacking competitions, which are designed to find and share vulnerabilities in huge companies.
While huge companies are often on top of these emerging threats, smaller firms aren’t able to keep on top of each new name and new software threat that happens. So, in this case, you should either follow the news or talk to a cybersecurity advisor or consultant who can help locate the weaknesses in your own unique digital infrastructure, pointing out where changes ought to be made.
New Software
Some software products emerge on the market with quite some fanfare, encouraging thousands of businesses to engage with them. The problem with these firms is that they’re essential untested, and that means that they haven’t been stress-tested by cybercriminals who are intent on finding a single point of failure to exploit.
All of this means that you should be careful before engaging with a brand new digital company; whose digital credentials are far from verified and proven on the open market. It might be better to spend a little time waiting for reports and reviews to emerge before engaging with flashy new technology that could be more of a liability than an asset in the long run.
Cybersecurity Firms
As always, with cybersecurity, you get what you pay for. If you’re using one of the cheapest cybersecurity software providers on the market; you might find that you’re more likely to encounter a breach. On the other hand, if you’re partnered with an industry leader with a towering reputation and several hundred analysts working around the clock to update their services, you’re more likely to be protected.
You can find these stellar companies online or by using the advice of knowledgeable independent consultants. They’ll know not only what software is the best but also which is the best fit for your firm; be that a cloud security software provider or one that helps protect your apps from breaches and hacks.
Make use of this advice in order to respond adequately to emerging cyber threats; something that’s developing and evolving each week.
