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The Anatomy of a Cyber Attack

Author: Michael File
by Michael File
Posted: Jul 10, 2015

To know how to stop cyber attacks you need to know how they work. The following seven steps describe the anatomy of a cyber attack:

  1. The cyber criminal, or hacker, gains entry through an email, a network vulnerability, downloaded file, attachment to a social media post, Trojan horse website, or application bug and inserts malware into your computer or network. Your computer, and possibly all other connected devices on your network, are now compromised.
  2. The malware now probes for additional network access, vulnerabilities, or communicates with command and control websites to receive additional instructions and/or malicious code.
  3. The malware typically establishes additional entry points to ensure that the cyber attack can continue if its original point of entry is discovered and closed.
  4. Once the hacker has established network access, he/she begins to gather data, such as account names, logins and passwords. Once the hacker cracks the passwords, he/she can now can identify, access, and control data or individual accounts.
  5. Data and your account profiles are collected on a staging server, and then the data is stolen. A data breach is now occurring without your knowledge.
  6. The hacker often does not use this data or your account information for themselves, your information will be posted for sale on the deep web and purchased by criminals that may wait months, or years to raid your accounts or steal your identity. (They often will have "bots" that will monitor your situation so they can strike at the right time to receive the most gain.)
  7. After the initial hack, evidence of the cyber attack is removed from your computer/network, but your equipment is still compromised and the hacker can return at any time to continue the data breach.

Our Home Cyber Defense Weekly newsletter is designed to teach you how to recognize and prevent cyber attacks, and informs you what to do if you have been attacked. A subscription to our newsletter is free and you can subscribe on our website at: http://homecyberdefense.net

The foremost step to be taken that you need to be aware of all the cyber threats. You must have knowledge about it if you are using it for your personal purpose as well professional one. You must have good knowledge of Internet security and home cyber security.

About the Author

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Author: Michael File

Michael File

Member since: Jul 02, 2015
Published articles: 4

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