We all agree on how vast the internet is: it contains tons (over 1 million terabytes, actually) of information and opens the doors to infinite possibilities and realities. There are countless things we can do on the net, and that is a positive thing! Unfortunately, every cloud has a silver lining: threats, cyber attacks and malicious opportunities are also infinite. It is important to be aware of how cyber attacks operate. We’ll cover 3 of the most common ones:   

1. Birthday attack

   The birthday attack is one of the most common cyberattacks and takes advantage of collisions of two of the same messages, or digital transmission, with same value. They work on digital signatures, which are used to verify the integrity (authenticity) of a message. The attacker can modify an original message without the user noticing it, enabling the attacker to modify important documents, such as sensitive form data.

2. Man in the middle

   This attacks works by leveraging unsecured networks. An unsuspecting internet user enters the attacker network without noticing and can then be tracked by the attacker when the user accesses unencrypted sites. Unsecured credentials are easily stolen this way: always make sure that the site you are accessing has “https” in the address when transmitting sensitive information.

3. Malware attacks

   Malware is malicious software, used to destroy data and steal information. Adware, bots, ransomware, rootkits, spyware, and trojans are a few different types of malware. The objective of such software is to get access to servers using different methods like clickjacking or scanning files to get access to servers and steal or reproduce malicious information. Some malicious software will even extort Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies before a user is able to re-enable access to their system.

These are 3 of the most common ways hackers can enter your network. It is recommended to take security measures that can prevent these types of attacks and always be exceptionally careful when sharing vulnerable information.