How is unauthorized access to information gained?
Unauthorized access to information is gained through many different strategies. Primarily the strategies are often tricks that get people who don’t suspect anything to give up their personal information. One real world example could be when scammers target elderly people and say they owe money from a certain bill and that if they don’t pay the police will be called. This causes fear which in turn makes people give up (in this case) their bank information. Another example of how unauthorized access is gained is through another type of scam called “phishing”. Basically Phishing is when scammers send gmails/emails to people with a corrupt link that looks normal but it’s actually just bait for the person to click on and give the scammer access to their computer to gain information. That’s why it’s called phishing, the scammer is practically fishing and hoping someone bites their bait to gain access.
Additionally, unauthorized access to information is common when targeting big businesses. When it comes to big businesses, some ways that people gain unauthorized access include insider threats (employees involved), social engineering attacks (impersonation), compromised accounts, Zeus malware, etc. Although most of these are pretty straightforward you might be wondering, what is Zeus malware? Essentially Zeus malware , according to Cynet, is “a malware package using a client/server model. Operators of the Zeus malware use it to create massive botnets” and botnets are networks of infected malware. These different methods of gaining information are very dangerous and people/businesses should be extremely careful with sensitive and personal data. But how can you prevent it?
There are many ways to prevent unauthorized access to your information. According to the FTC, some ways that you can protect your information include keeping your software up to date, securing your home Wi-fi network, protecting your online accounts, creating strong passwords, use two-factor authentication, pick security questions that only you can answer, and lastly protecting yourself from attempts to steal your information. Most people already know how to do most of these things but a great source that shows you the definitions and how you do these things is at the Federal Trade Commission website! When it comes to big businesses, although some of the techniques are still the same, you need to be more careful because of the amount of information that is being kept in the system. According to DICE communicationsthey say that companies should also implement “least privilege and zero trust”. What this essentially means is that companies should give minimum access to the network and each employee based on their needs is only allowed certain access to do their jobs. This way if a hacker gets a hold of someone's information they’ll only be able to do minimum damage to the network. The “zero-trust approach” means businesses have to act like anyone accessing their network could be a potential attacker.
Continue...