Why Hackers Want Your Data And How To Prevent Them From Getting It

As a technology decision maker, you know that your data is worth a lot.

More than you might think.

Every where you go and every thing you do, digitally, is leaving breadcrumbs for an attacker to acquire your information and data.

So why is this the case, and how do you prevent it this from happening, inside your IT department?

What’s a hacked email account worth?

According to Krebs on security, there’s a lot of value to your email information.

With access to your email account, hackers can go in a number of directions to exploit you and your information.

The result is them gaining valuable insights along the way, which will further negatively impact you IT-life.

One tactic that hackers use when gaining access to your customers data via contact lists is blasting emails that appear like they’re from you. These emails will ask your customers for money and ask them to click on suspicious links, thereby forfeiting security.

They’ll sift through your archives and saved messages for any relevant data to gain access to  and they’ll reset passwords to lock you out of your own accounts in order to gain control.

What’s a hacked computer worth?

The one way they get in to be aware of.

There are countless ways for malware to weasel their ways into your machines, but only one important way to be aware or.

It’s called social engineering.

45% of all malware is facilitated by social engineering.

Read more about this here, from a great Symantec IT-Report.

Social engineering is defined as a means where users are tricked into letting hackers into your network.

When you click unidentified and suspicious links or navigate to websites that are not trusted, you immediately put your sensitive IT data at risk.

Here are a couple of types of malware and how they work:

• Trojan horse virus. Sounds harmless, but far from it. Trojan virus’s add programs on your machine and can damage your host systems. They don’t replicate, but they steal passwords and other valuable business data.
• Viruses. Viruses exploit security vulnerabilities and attach themselves to programs to enter your network. They can add and delete files and folders, reformat portions of your hard drive, and of course facilitate leaking of data via back-doors.
• Worms. Worms spread across entire networks, replicating code and facilitating data breaches by way of backdoors.

The cost of Malware.

Here are some scenarios on how malware might work against you, once it finds its way into your network:

• Blocks access to specific programs and applications.
• Prevents users from regain access to certain programs and files.
• Adds unwanted programs that annoy your IT team and give the attacker access to your data and systems.
• Set up triggers that, if manipulated, can wipe your hard drives by allowing access to pipelines of data.

Block social engineering, once and for all.

DigiSync Technology Solutions can train and test your network, and employees, to ensure that you’re prepared to block attempts to exploit your accounts, thus keeping data safe and sound.

Email us here to learn more.