Irvine IT services or any local managed IT services near you, offer an array of services, and among the most important of these it cybersecurity. Your business relies on data security and breaches of this can destroy a business.
One of the biggest concerns any digital media user has is being vulnerable to a computer virus or similar attack. It takes time and a lot of effort to remove these once they have infected a computer system, and it is incredibly important to mitigate the risks in advance rather than try to fix the problem once it has occurred.
Types of Cyber Attacks
VIRUS – A computer virus can be a simple annoyance, or it can be catastrophic for your files, software, and even your hardware. In most cases, it will go on to infect other computers on the same network and is capable of replicating itself.
A virus is attached to an executable file. It can only infect your computer if it has been executed – e.g. a link to the virus is clicked on. In almost all cases, the executable file is hidden in your computer or on a USB stick waiting to be run.
- TROJAN HORSE – This type of attack has the appearance of software that is required on your computer. Once installed, the Trojan can cause anything from minor changes to your operating system to chaotic system changes and file deletion. A Trojan is unable to replicate itself; the attack will usually open a program via a “back door” for malicious users to log in and access sensitive data as well as execute other codes. Bank details are especially vulnerable to a Trojan attack.
- WORM – A sub-class of the virus, a worm does not require human execution or interaction to be spread. It can replicate itself very quickly and may spread widely throughout the computers in a network. It achieves this by piggybacking onto files or information transport programs that are present on the computer, such as email programs, for example. A worm may send itself to everyone in your address book, and then everyone in each of those recipients’ address books, and so on. It can drain large-system resources and cause catastrophic server crashes and unavailability of files and processes. A worm can completely disrupt and cripple a company.
- BLENDED THREAT – a Blended Threat literally blends the features of the Virus, Trojan and Worm to create chaos. The Blended Threat uses liabilities on the server and internet to initiate, transmit, and spread an attack. A Blended Threat harms infected systems and networks, sends the attack from multiple sources, propagates itself and delivers multiple attacks in one.
A Blended Threat includes DoS (denial of service) attacks while concurrently installing back-door vulnerability and attacking files and other parts of the network.
Blended Threats spread via file-sharing, email, and IRC (internet relay chat). They are the worst form of security risk a business faces.
Appropriate anti-virus software and specific actions on the part of all computer users are critical to avoid being the victim of a cyber attack of any kind. By hiring Irvine IT services or managed IT services near you, you can benefit enormously from the expertise of the professionals whose job it is to maintain the integrity of your digital systems, for the wellbeing of your business.
Contact us at CloudStep today.