Cyber security is one of the most important parts of any company or corporate organization in today’s world. Where everything is on the internet, the exposure to risk is huge. Like the white blood cells in our bodies are constantly fending off bacteria and viruses, the cyber security teams and systems of all organizations are constantly at war with cyber criminals who are trying to force their way in.
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However, there are certain days when the activity of cyber criminals or cyber thugs increases manifold. This increase is attributed to limited and favoring opportunities for the hackers to wreak havoc in the corporate world and bamboozle them with their shenanigans. The risk to data confidentiality and integrity on these days is at its highest, and so it is vital that people know about these days in order to buff up their protection systems for the energized wave of enemy attacks.
Data Dump Day
This day is when hackers release the information they have stolen from others on to an underground forum or group. Exchange of this information all at once can lead to organizations incurring hefty losses and damage on a single day due to disclosing of sensitive information.
To guard against this threat, the cyber security team should be on the lookout for underground networks and look for spikes in criminal activity, which indicates that a day like this is round the corner.
Patch Tuesday
This day occurs every month. It is when Microsoft releases a new patch for its customers. Hackers use a tool called Ida Pro Wednesday to make the most of these patches. They benefit from such days as they figure out how the patch works and work their way from the end point to the starting point to find loopholes in the users’ systems.
The best method to prevent such attacks is to use many layers of security for your system which would make random and small-scale attacks useless.
Zero-Day
Zero Day refers to the day when a weakness in a software is found by the developers or vendors. Since the software is vulnerable as long as a fix is created and launched, hackers make the most of the situation. There is no specific time frame for the duration of zero-day as it last until a patch is found. A lot of damages can be done in that time.
The way around this day is to enhance your system to detect and report threats as and when they come. A regular track of the status of the systems should be maintained in order to report any discrepancies as they could give an indication of anomalous activity.
Tax Day
It is when people and organizations have to pay up their remaining tax dues to the state. Hackers send emails asking the users to update their details in a link they provide or a file they attach with the email. As soon as you do that, your details would be recorded and your accounts at the mercy of cyber thugs.
Stay alert for such messages to prevent incurring loss on this day.
Black Friday
It is the day when huge discounts are offered on most online retail stores, which means a huge increase in online shopping traffic. Online shopping requires online payment, which provides hackers the opportunity to snoop for the details of customers as they make their payments.
Shoppers should be extremely cautious while making payments online. They should be wary of false links offering sales and discounts, as well as make sure they pay through websites that use secure protocols to encrypt data.
