We feel threats should be evaluated specifically based on the risk they pose to a specific customer. AI fails at this today because it either uses a generalized model or requires training, and is based on threat data that already exists.
What exactly is a “threat”? It is something that, if it were utilized against you, would cause you financial, moral, legal or physical harm.
A cyber threat is any activity, person, or event that can harm computers, networks, or digital information. Cyber threats aim to steal data, damage systems, disrupt services, or gain unauthorized access.
Some common types of cyber threats include:
- Malware – Malicious software such as viruses, worms, ransomware, and spyware that infects devices.
- Phishing – Fake emails, messages, or websites designed to trick people into revealing passwords or financial information.
- Ransomware – Malware that locks or encrypts files and demands payment to restore access.
- Hacking – Unauthorized access to a computer or network to steal, alter, or destroy information.
- Denial-of-Service (DoS/DDoS) attacks – Flooding a website or network with traffic so it becomes unavailable to users.
- Insider threats – Security risks caused by employees or trusted users, whether intentional or accidental.
Example:
If you receive an email claiming to be from your bank asking you to click a link and enter your password, it may be a phishing cyber threat. If you enter your details, attackers could steal your account information.
In simple terms:
A cyber threat is any potential danger to your computer, smartphone, online accounts, or digital data that could lead to theft, damage, or unauthorized access.
Evaluating threats
- If you don’t use Internet-connected technology, there’s only one threat remaining: insider threats. How do you ensure the trustworthiness of those who work for or with you with your sensitive information and access to financial assets? Evaluate what each individual can do with their level of access relative to their level of trust.
- Denial-of-service: How critical are your website and your electronic communications to your business? What online/cloud/software-as-/hosted services are you using, and how might they be disrupted? Small businesses are more susceptible to disruption through denial of service against a provider than to being specifically targeted unless they have a particular event that raises their visibility. Ask providers how they mitigate DOS attacks.
- Hacking: you are more likely to have an employee fooled into giving a criminal access to your network after being phished than you are to being targeted by a sophisticated attack. Your employees and processes are the first line of defense against these threats. Again, how much do you trust your employees?
- Ransomware: see 2 and 3. Your susceptibility depends on your employees and your service providers in 99% of small business cases. Did services get configured properly? Does your data with an external provider have adequate protection against leaks and destruction? Is Larry in sales letting some rando connect to his computer to install a “critical update”?
- Phishing: this is the primary source of hacking and ransomware. Can you keep people from clicking on stupid shit? Can you keep them from being conned into installing something or giving up their access or from going to a rando website and being prompted for their M365 credentials? Maybe they can be trained. Maybe they can’t.
- Malware: The internet is full of malware.It gets onto computers because people click on stupid shit, download “free” software to do something they probably shouldn’t be doing, or some provider screwed up.
So, the future of evaluating threats: Focus on people. Hire someone like us to evaluate your business environment and your providers and manage your services for you. Take our advice about the software you’re using and how to make it extra difficult for anyone to fuck up and let malware in or expose your data. Let us tune your defenses to what really is a threat to your operations, and life will be good. Except for the emplo9yees who fail the phishing tests, they’re going to have to be BuzzWorded.
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