Cybersecurity

For this project, I had to go and explore Google's News Search and find two articles about different cybersecurity attacks.  I was tasked to identify the type of attack, who it affected, and how we can protect ourselves from being victims of similar attacks.

I learned that those cyber criminals are extremely committed!  They do their handiwork to target people to get what it is they desire, be it information or money.  I hate extra steps when I want to get into my accounts, but now I realize two factor authentication isn't really that bad.

This article told us all about credential stuffing, where hackers steal login credentials (usernames & passwords) and try them on other online accounts, as people tend to recycle them.  This particular event happened in Australia, involved four businesses, and affected 15,000 consumers.  The easiest way to prevent this from happening to us, is to NOT use the same login credentials for different sites.  I know it's a headache, but better safe than hacked!  Multi factor authentication is another great way to prevent unwanted logins, especially if our information does happen to get into the wrong hands.

This article brought awareness to ransomware.  Though it usually targets businesses and/or governments, it uses regular people as a means to infiltrate systems.  This wasn't an article about an isolated incident, it was more informatory, giving us insight into the CRI (Counter Ransomware initiative) and their measures to combat possible ransomware attacks.  To protect themselves, businesses should employ digital risk management and fraud detection tools, and we, the everyday people, should be watching for phishing emails.