5 Types of Hacking You Need to Protect Yourself Against

Global ransomware cyberattacks increased by 105% within a single year. This terrifying figure shows how prevalent hacking attacks are. A single mistake online can cause you to suffer from its effects.

Even with enough internet experience, you might be vulnerable to cybersecurity risks. The best way to avoid these situations is by learning the types of hacking online. Read on and find out more:

1. Social Engineering and Phishing

Social engineering attempts to get your information by impersonating a trustworthy source. The most common bait for this attack is phishing emails. A clever hacker sends a message seemingly from a person you know.

These emails will often ask you to do something, from wiring money to clicking a link to download infected files. Phishing through email is the most popular way of delivering malware. Over 75% of threats come from email attachments.

2. Malware-Injecting Devices

Hackers can use hardware to infest your computer with malware. Infected USB sticks can give cybercriminals remote access to your computer after plugging them.

Nowadays, even computer-related cords can now inject malware, like mouse cords. Educate yourself on physical malware-injection techniques. Stop and think before plugging in a drive or cable from unknown sources.

3. Missing Security Patches

As the hacking landscape advances, security tools can become obsolete. These apps need regular updates to remain effective. However, you might ignore update notifications and leave yourself at risk.

Updates also apply beyond antivirus software. Some applications fix security vulnerabilities with newer versions. When you neglect these patches, hackers will exploit these holes to get inside your device.

4. Password Cracking

Hackers use various techniques to get your login credentials. However, the most common one is keylogging. They use social engineering to make you unwittingly download malware.

This keylogging software records your every keystroke. It saves your username and passwords as soon as you enter them. Hackers will continue tracking your activity until they have everything necessary to strike.

Also, password cracking applications can run letter and character combinations. It guesses passwords using brute force. The easier your password, the faster they can crack it.

Government agencies can also use secure DNS hosting from totaluptime.com. It has DNSSEC and 2FA security to protect them from password cracking.

5. DDoS Attacks

Distributed Denial-of-Service aims to take a website down. Hackers overload its server with excessive traffic, giving them more requests than they can handle. As a result, your server crashes alongside your site.

In most cases, DDoS attacks use synchronized hacker tactics. These cybercriminals can take down even large businesses. With enough collaboration, multiple websites and other online assets could go down.

Avoiding this attack is almost impossible. Consider using a cloud protection service or DDoS mitigation tools to protect your business from its effects.

Learn More Types of Hacking Now

These are the most common types of hacking on the internet. Use these to determine your vulnerabilities and adjust accordingly.

However, more types of hacker attacks exist. Consider learning about them to achieve total online protection.

Did you find this guide helpful? If so, read our other posts for more online security tips and tricks today.