The new year comes with a new bunch of opportunities for businesses embarking on a digital transformation journey. However, the threat vector is broadened with cybercriminals exploring new ways to exploit businesses and customer information.
\nCybercriminals are resourceful and innovative creatures who constantly develop new ways to exploit businesses and customer information to reap their benefits. While every organization is aware of the potential threats, they are equally unaware of the uncommon attacks that could severely impact their overall cybersecurity posture.
\nCybercriminals' recent modus operandi changes constantly, and simply being aware is not enough. Investigations of past cyberattacks reveal that individual users are often responsible for letting attacks succeed due to either misconfiguration of a computer or mobile device or carelessness.
\nAlok Patidar, Director of Information Security at LoginRadius, shares his valuable insights into the most uncommon cyberattacks that need immediate attention in 2023. Let’s have a look.
\nA Zero-Day Exploit is a security vulnerability that the vendor has not patched. In other words, there is no solution for this vulnerability in most cases. This means that attackers can use this vulnerability to their advantage, and they can use it to target users who have not been informed about the exposure.
\nOrganizations can prevent zero-day exploits by incorporating CPU-level inspections, malware-DNA analysis, robust identity management, and threat intelligence platforms.
\nWatering hole attacks are targeted attacks where the victims are typically a group of organizations, regions, or communities.
\nCybercriminals usually attack websites frequently used by the targetted group and are identified by close monitoring. And once identified, these websites are infected with malware, which further infects the target group members’ systems.
\nWatering hole attacks can be prevented by raising awareness, keeping systems up-to-date, using a VPN, and getting a security audit from security experts.
\nCloud jacking is a form of hacking that enables cybercriminals to inject malicious code into a legitimate website's HTML code and then use this site as part of their phishing scam or malware distribution campaign.
\nThe phishing scheme can be anything from an email, SMS message, or landing page that asks for personal information such as name, address, phone number, etc., or it might even contain malicious software like ransomware which locks your computer until you pay up!
\nCloud jacking can be prevented by establishing cloud governance policies, securing a data backup plan, and leveraging encryption.
\nThe Internet of Things is a growing industry; several intelligent, interconnected devices surround us. However, this technology is now considered the most vulnerable to cyber threats.
\nIoT networks are mainly vulnerable to spoofing, denial-of-service attacks (DDoS), and phishing. And these kinds of attacks can be avoided by leveraging various network security measures, including encryption, identity management, robust authentication, and authorization.
\n\nDeepfakes are a new form of digital manipulation that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to create fabricated images and videos of people. These deepfakes have become increasingly sophisticated in the past few years, making it difficult for experts to distinguish between fake and real.
\nDeep Fakes pose a severe threat to society, as they can be used to create fake news or manipulate public opinion. For businesses, employees will have trouble distinguishing between real and fake information when making critical decisions about their work.
\nThe security of application programming interface (API) channels is a significant concern for organizations today. While internal web app security is more robust, API security readiness usually lags. Several vulnerabilities include weak authentication, misconfiguration, and broken object-level authorization.
\nEven with these flaws, it is still time for organizations to address their API security gaps. Several steps can be taken to strengthen API defenses, including:
\n5G is swiftly rolling out across various public areas, including shopping malls, airports, and restaurants. And a user’s voice or data information on their cellular phone gets communicated through a Wi-Fi access point. And this means that a user’s smartphone is always looking for the strongest signal for using data transfer and calling.
\nThe problem with this new setup is that when you connect to a public Wi-Fi network in these venues, you're sending all of your data through an unencrypted connection that could be intercepted by anyone else who's connected to it—and there may be dozens or hundreds of people logged into it at any given time!
\nCyberattacks are inevitable. As business teams continue to invest in securing their networks and employees, they must also prioritize uncommon attacks or zero-day cyber threats.
\nWhile organizations need to be wary of both, they should also gear up for complex commodity watering hole attacks and dark web compromises. These are some of the uncommon cyberattacks that all companies should keep an eye out for, especially in a digital transformation environment.
\n\n","headings":[{"value":"Introduction","depth":2},{"value":"#1. Zero-Day Exploit","depth":3},{"value":"#2. Watering Hole Attack","depth":3},{"value":"#3. Cloud Jacking","depth":3},{"value":"#4. The threat to IoT Devices","depth":3},{"value":"#5. Deepfake","depth":3},{"value":"#6. Application Programming Interface (API) Vulnerabilities and Breaches","depth":3},{"value":"#7. 5G-to-Wi-Fi Security Vulnerabilities","depth":3},{"value":"In a Nutshell","depth":2}],"fields":{"slug":"/identity/7-uncommon-cyberattacks-2023/"},"frontmatter":{"metatitle":"The 7 Most UnCommon Cyber Attacks You'll See In 2023","metadescription":"While organizations prepare for the most common cyberattacks, the most uncommon remain unaddressed. Here’s what every business needs to be aware of in 2023.","description":"Cybercriminals are resourceful and innovative creatures who constantly develop new ways to exploit businesses and customer information to reap benefits. While every organization is aware of the potential threats, they are equally unaware of the uncommon attacks that could severely impact their overall cybersecurity posture.","title":"7 Uncommon Cyber Attacks in 2023: Why Your Organization Needs To Be Ready For The Worst-Case Scenarios","canonical":null,"date":"January 27, 2023","updated_date":null,"tags":["cybersecurity","identity management","cyberattacks"],"coverImage":{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"aspectRatio":1.639344262295082,"src":"/static/35f9202aadf4e8e8ff3e5dddbdf07413/d3746/uncommon.jpg","srcSet":"/static/35f9202aadf4e8e8ff3e5dddbdf07413/3dcee/uncommon.jpg 200w,\n/static/35f9202aadf4e8e8ff3e5dddbdf07413/ae6ae/uncommon.jpg 400w,\n/static/35f9202aadf4e8e8ff3e5dddbdf07413/d3746/uncommon.jpg 768w","sizes":"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px"}}},"author":{"id":"Alok Patidar","github":null,"bio":"Alok Patidar is Information Security Manager at LoginRadius. He is a security professional who has been in computer, cybersecurity & information security for over a decade. Alok carries experience in multiple domains which include risk assessment, cyber threat analysis, vulnerability assessment & red teaming.","avatar":null}}}},"pageContext":{"id":"87eeffc3-887f-5050-957f-94bc841c386e","fields__slug":"/identity/7-uncommon-cyberattacks-2023/","__params":{"fields__slug":"identity"}}},"staticQueryHashes":["1171199041","1384082988","1711371485","1753898100","2100481360","229320306","23180105","528864852"]}