Cybersecurity threats are becoming increasingly common as technology advances into the new year. Many businesses are affected by cyber attacks each year, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars in informational and financial risk.

Here are the 5 most common types of attacks that affect businesses.

1. Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)

Flooding a targeted host with requests for service in order to prevent legitimate users from accessing a machine or network resource is known as a Denial of Service attack. These kind of attacks can temporarily disable businesses or function as a mask.

2. Man-in-the-Middle (MitM)

A Man-in-the-Middle attack occurs when a 3rd party falsey positions themselves with a two-way conversation to retrieve restricted information. The 3rd party acts as the real and intended message recipient to impersonate one a party member, allowing the 3rd party to “eavesdrop” on a sensitive subject.

3. Phishing

The use of fraudulent emails or instant messages to gain access to user login information is known as Phishing. These messages often direct a user to a website that impersonates the a legitimate site to gain the required login information. Damages each year exceed billions due to stolen identity, credit card information, and other forms of payment transfers.

4. Structured Query Language (SQL) Injection

Also known as SQLI, an SQL Injection uses code to grant user access to a information in the database that was not intended to be displayed. Recently, the risk of SQL Injection is on the rise due to their availability to the public as an automated tool, simply requiring the user to point the tool at a website.

5. Cross-site Scripting (XSS)

Similar to SQL injections, Cross-site Scripting occurs through the injection of malicious code, but differs due to the target being the user and not a site. Through a site’s vulnerability, code may be injected retrieve users’ session cookies, making impersonation possible.

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