Cyber Security Review

Definition of Words

Malware

Malware refers to malicious software that performs cybersecurity attacks on their target devices or computer networks. The malware performs various malicious activities such as stealing, deleting, encrypting, altering or deleting sensitive corporate information.

Phishing Attack

A phishing attack is a type of social engineering cybersecurity threat often used by cybercriminals to steal user data such as system login details and credit card credentials. In this type of attack, attackers who pretend to be trusted entities trick their victims into clicking malicious links through emails or instant text messages. Hence, the recipient is duped into downloading infected documents, malware, or revealing private information since they trust the message's sender.

Man-in-the-Middle Attack

The man-in-the-middle attack is an eavesdropping cybersecurity attack where cyber criminals intercept communication between two communicating entities such as an information system user and an application. The attack occurs through the attackers positioning themselves between the communicating parties and pretending to be a legitimate communicating entity. Since the attacker appears as a legitimate party, they intercept private conversation details such as login details and credit card numbers unnoticed.

Trojan

A Trojan also referred to as a Trojan horse, is a computer malware that disguises itself as legitimate computer software. Through social engineering, attackers trick computer users into downloading Trojans into their devices, and once the Trojans are activated, the attackers can steal sensitive user data or spy on them.

Denial of Service Attack (DoS)

DoS is a type of cyber attack where legitimate information system users are denied access to network resources due to the activities of a malicious attacker. In this cyber threat, an attacker floods the target network with vast traffic until the host crashes, denying legitimate users access to the network resources.

Ransomware

Ransomware is a type of malware attack that uses encryption to hold its victims' data on ransom. In this attack, a victims data is encrypted, and the attacker demands a ransom to provide the files' decryption keys.

Limitations of the Study

Due to this paper's focus, the research is limited to evaluating and assessing the effectiveness of the three previously mentioned interventions in preventing and mitigating cyberattacks. These interventions include effective management of information system security, identifying potential cyber threats, and clarifying information security policies. Although other strategies exist to prevent and mitigate cyberattacks, this paper ignores them and limits itself to the aforementioned three strategies.

Assumptions

The security of an organization's information systems is tied to their brand reputation, and therefore, organizations might feel uncomfortable sharing factual information concerning their information systems security. In this regard, this study assumes that firms will be honest in their responses and will not hide past or present cyber attacks on their systems.

References

Bar, J.G. (2021). Protecting Manufacturing Systems from Cyber Attacks. Faulkner Information

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