Cyber-attacks happen when either organization provides a gateway for entry or cybercriminals exploits the conditions that provide a gateway for the attack. Cyber-attacks are the by-product of the internet world. What exactly does drives the cybercriminals to attack an organization? According to the recent survey of the Radware’s Global Application & Network Security Report for 2018, currently, only 51 percent of the attacks were financially motivated, while 31 percent of the attacks are done for the political gains or social causes. Insider threat counts to the number 27 percent and corporate espionage is at the 26 percent. With cyberwar and angry users are at the fifth position with 18 percent. Socially motivated attackers are said to be more motivated than the other type of attackers. The recent major attacks that include unprotected printers and Chromecast devices to print a message in support of Swedish Youtuber and also a fake apology being posted in Wall Street Journal. Many high profile attacks on the European politicians, North Korea attack on the Sony pictures and also data breach for the website Ashley Madison. Malware and bots seem to be primary weapons of attacks, with almost 76 percent of the cybercriminals using the technology. Social Engineering attack such as phishing attack is also seeing a steady rise from 11 percent in 2016 to 65 percent in 2018.
Radware also predicted that attacks will now be shifting their focus towards more physical devices such as IoT. Many of the current IoT devices are left without any security layer and they seem to be an easier target for cybercriminals who want to spy on the users. What makes the IoT attacks more complicated? Because even if the device has been hacked, it’s impossible for the users to know about the attack. Cybersecurity will be a challenge for the enterprises that deal with data and develop different devices. It will be imperative for them to be innovative in securing the data and the device without changing the functionality.
