How Hackers Defeat Computer Security Systems

Critical Information Literacy: Tools for Coursework

Today, cyberattacks are disrupting and even destroying the computer operations of countless business of all sizes and types, and hackers appear capable of overcoming the latest protections that are available. Fortunately, there are some steps that business practitioners can take to protect their computer files from cyberattacks. To learn more about these, the purpose of this paper is to provide a review of selected resources to describe the importance of cybersecurity in the workplace and the respective benefits of regularly updating applications, of password control and virtual private networks.

Cybersecurity in the Workplace

Many people may not realize just how insidious some types of attacks on their computer security may be, and it is easy to fall into a hacker’s trap through clever social engineering tactics (How to avoid social engineering attacks, 2016). In particular, social engineering tactics use ordinary emails to “phish” for sensitive or proprietary information, including passwords, account numbers or other security-related data using email attachments, ads or fake Web sites that are routinely used which are designed to resemble the legitimate version. Cybersecurity specialists recommend never sharing any personal information through emails unless practitioners are 200% certain of the senders’ identity and to avoid using the return email address since these can be easily forged (How to avoid social engineering attacks, 2016).

In addition, two-factor authentications can add an extra layer of security to site logins by incorporating an additional authentication step that involves some other personal identifier such as a PIN number or biometric data such as fingerprints or voice prints (Rosenblatt & Cipriani, 2015). Likewise, users should always keep their login credential private and not even open suspicious email attachments since these can result in a cyberattack (Basic cybersecurity tips for the workplace, 2018).

Benefits of Regular Updates

Applications: Regularly updating routinely used applications such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Microsoft, Apple and Google will help ensure that the various security protocols that are used to access them will include the latest identity verification methods (Rosenblatt & Cipriani, 2015).

Password control: Far too many people resort to using easy-to-defeat passwords such as “password” and even more fail to change their passwords regularly. Cybersecurity experts recommend using strong passwords (longer passwords with a combination of special characters, upper- and lower-case letters and numbers). In addition, password managers can also help users keep their secure passwords up-to-date (Pilette, 2021).

Virtual private networks: Virtual private networks, or VPNs, provide yet another layer of computer security by concealing the users’ personal information including their original ISP address.

Conclusion

During an era when ransomware attacks are threatening both public and private sector organizations, it is imperative that computer users keep the wide range of security threats that are arrayed against them in mind whenever they use their computers. Although there are some especially sophisticated cybersecurity threats looming in the cloud, some of the most common are straightforward and easy to miss unless these considerations are kept in the forefront. Indeed, the research showed that social engineering practices in particular represent an ongoing threat to computer security and users may be duped into sharing sensitive data without ever knowing it. In the final analysis, it is reasonable to conclude that maintaining computer security is everyone’s responsibility.

References

Google Help. (2016, September 14). How to avoid social engineering attacks [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/XEtvwzN_xJk.

Oxen Technology. (2018, June 11). Basic cybersecurity tips for the workplace. Retrieved from https://oxen.tech/blog/basic-cybersecurity-tips-workplace/.

Rosenblatt, S., & Cipriani, J. (2015, June 15). Two-factor authentication: What you need to know (FAQ). Cnet. Retrieved from https://www.cnet.com/news/privacy/two-factor-authentication-what-you-need-to-know-faq/