You may think you are safe when you put your login credentials to your social media account, but you need to take care of yourself. Social media and other anything you access online is not safe anymore, do not trust any online platform with your information or data. Always have your doubts every time you access websites in your internet space, never be overconfidence, have some smart cybersecurity strategies that will protect you because cyber hackers are not sleeping, but thinking of a new way to access information that might be of benefit to them. Many hackers use sophisticated software that many try to connect to virtual machines using network addresses and sockets and any other loopholes, to access workstations online. Ransomware are used to get into network of computers and try to access computer systems and data. They are mostly spread using phishing emails and visiting websites that have ransomware. We have major cases that have really caused great risks and damages in recent past.
WannaCry Attack
NHS were first victims of this ransomware that gained access to their computer system in 2017 and caused chaos to the whole medical system. This was caused by hackers who used the same ransomware to attack FedEx, a renowned freight company. It found its way into their system and infected all computers in all their branches in 150 countries. “WannaCry” was being spread by use of email in form of attachment; therefore, as you download the attachment, it finds its way into the computer. When it got into computer, it used to lock files and demand compensation in form of money for it to unlock files.
This ransomware paralyzed the whole NHS for some days, until a 22 year old security guru found a kill switch.
Mirai Malware attack
It is one of the worst attacks that have ever happened in 21st century. It took place in 21st of October in 2016 when no one expected it. Mirai is a malware that used to skim through the internet of things devices, finding devices to attack. It was doing this continuously until it successfully accesses component and logins into it then infects it by executing a malware. Mirai tried 61 different passwords combining with usernames for each computer.
After controlling the device, Mirai used to make a huge botnet army out of the internet of things devices. With this army, massive DDoS attacks were made and successfully took down many websites and internet services causing huge effects and losses since even part of internet went down because of Mirai attack. Many social network sites like Twitter was messily affected. Netflix,CNN, Reddit and many other companies that relied on internet for their services, went down. Mirai attack became one of the biggest cyber-attack that ever happened in the history of Internet of things (IoT). From the attack, we learned that is very important to changed default passwords and username immediately when new device is connected to the internet. In addition, passwords should always be unique per device when connected to the internet. It is necessary for IoT devices to have latest software and firmware to be updated every time to control and reduce vulnerabilities.
Trendnet webcam
This attack happened to camera belonging to TRENDnet company who claimed that they were secure from any attack. Hacker wanted to prove they are far from the truth because he hacked and was able to look through the camera using IP address. It is very important to encrypt IP address of cameras and use strong passwords and username to protect yourself from hackers.
