5 Industries that Should Consider Cybersecurity

The 2020 year has become a record-breaking period for cyberattacks. After the COVID-19 breakdown, most businesses went online and started working remotely. This global digitalisation allowed hackers to easily access data and money. While digitalisation continues, companies started to consider using cybersecurity services to prevent any attacks. In addition, several industries became the most vulnerable to attackers. 

In the digital world of 2022, all businesses, regardless of their size, are at high risk of cyberattacks, where some of these industries are most appealing to hackers. This article will show 5 most vulnerable industries that are now in danger of specific types of threats.

Small Businesses

Small businesses are the best target for hackers. This is because large companies always set up high-security measures. Even though small businesses do not consider cybersecurity as something vital for them, the truth is that they collect the same amount of data as large companies. However, due to their lack of protection, they are usually easier to hack.

This usually happens because most small businesses and startups do not have enough resources and money to invest in cybersecurity, which quickly makes them an easy target for attackers. Based on the report provided by Verizon 2019 Data Breach Investigation, 43% of cyber attacks during the last few years were directed toward small businesses.

The biggest threat that small businesses should be afraid of is phishing attacks. This type of attack means that the hacker pretends to be a trusted contact like a vendor or third party to force users to click a malicious link, download a file, or share sensitive data.

Malware is the second type of attack that usually happens with small businesses. Here, attackers cripple a company’s devices to get access to sensitive data, which puts both company’s customers and employees at risk.

Healthcare

Since the COVID-19 breakdown, ​​ the healthcare industry started to develop various applications and web services to provide their services in the new reality of the pandemic. As a result, the healthcare domain has also become one of the favourite targets for modern hackers. In addition, healthcare organisations always keep lots of sensitive user data, which only aids value. Based on research, more than 80% of all healthcare organisations have reported at least one security breach, which can ruin the whole business.

In the healthcare space, ransomware type of attack is the most popular. This is a type of attack hackers use to block organisations from accessing their own information or a denial of service until a ransom is paid. These attacks are also highly dangerous for the healthcare market as in case of hacker success, both employees and patients will be at high risk. This is why all modern healthcare organisations use cybersecurity services UK.

Government Agencies

Given the fact how much confidential and personal information government agencies contain, it’s not a surprise this domain is a lovely place for cyber criminals. Hackers also develop their skills and use new technologies to break the protection used by these agencies with the goal of stealing data and information. This not only can be dangerous for people but also make local governments open to a vast range of threats which are costly to fix.

For example, only in 2019, 79 ransomware attacks were successfully made on United States government organisations. Based on reports, these attacks cost the US $18.8 billion in recovery and downtime. Ransomware type of attacks is the most popular today in the government domain. 

Financial Institutions

As well in the healthcare industry, the financial space also moved into the digital space. This opened many windows for hackers. Therefore, financial institutions should be aware of server attacks and data theft. Based on Varonis 2021 Financial Services Data Risk Report, today’s financial services keep over 350,000 exposed sensitive files on average, which makes them the number one target for cybercriminals in 2022. When these institutions do not protect their files enough, attackers use malicious code to infiltrate servers containing exposed files to steal both personal and financial data.

In addition, mobile banking is a great way for hackers to steal money and personal information for future attacks. Here not only can banks protect users from threats, but also users should know how to prevent any attacks on their accounts. A trojan type of attack works by creating a false version of a bank’s login page and overlaying it on top of the real application. This allows hackers to steal users’ login information while the user even doesn’t know that the information was compromised. This is why financial institutions should consider using penetration testing to identify their weak spots and prevent any attacks.

Education

Even though most educational apps and websites do not contain enough valuable information, the increased use of technologies in this space makes this software vulnerable to cyberattacks. Malware attacks are highly popular in the education sector. This attack represents any program or file that’s damaging to a computer system or user. There are also several types of malware attacks, including ransomware, trojans, spyware, and adware. The goal here is to shut down online education systems, which affect millions of students all across the world.

Final Thoughts

The world is going online, and more and more companies are becoming more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Even though the number of attacks is growing, the awareness around them is also growing. While some industries can worry less about proper cybersecurity, several sectors are the main target for attackers. This is because they usually contain a lot of valuable, sensitive information or money to steal. But knowing what types of attacks these industries may experience can help companies within the risk list prepare and avoid successful attacks.