Cybersecurity has become a great concern for businesses of all sizes. As more and more organizations are moving to digital platforms to establish a full-fledged online business, the chances of data breaches, fraud, and identity theft are also growing.
In the past few years, many businesses have adopted cloud technologies to streamline their existing operations, which has also increased cybercrime by 300%, as per a report.
Hence, online businesses need to have a sound cybersecurity strategy that will protect their confidential information from internal and external threats.
The risk of cybersecurity threats not only comes from the outside but also from the inside. Unlike internal risks, external threats are created by entities outside the company. External attack in cyber security refers to the risk when someone from outside the organization who has no direct connection to the target tries to access and exploit your accounts.
However, Internal threats in cyber security come from people within the affected organization who can easily access and exploit the systems from within the organization.
Hence, when it comes to cybersecurity, it is worth considering both internal and external attacks as a priority, for they may cause disastrous consequences.
External Threats in Cyber Security
External threats are actions taken by people outside the organization with an attempt to exploit system vulnerabilities. They practice different methods to break into your system and install malware or gain access to confidential data and resell it on the dark web.
Let’s take an example to make it easier for you to understand how external attackers in cyber security work. Generally, hackers share a malicious link or trick an employee to download an attachment that allows attackers to access or gain control over their system or data.
Dealing with an external threat can be much more difficult than an internal one, since you cannot control people from the outside, like employees, and you cannot predict what they might do next.
Spyware, Ransomware, DDoS Attacks, Session Hijacking, Social Engineering, Phishing, Brute Force Attacks, and Drive-by Download Attacks are the different types of external security threats designed to steal important confidential or sensitive information.
Internal Threats in Cyber Security
An insider threat is when someone with legitimate access to an organization’s networks and systems (employees, former employees, contractors, business partners, or suppliers) deliberately extracts data for personal gain or accidentally leaks sensitive information.
In most cases, internal threats are accidental, yet let us take a few examples to explain how internal attackers in cyber security work. If an employee has access to all your client details and IT hardware, chances are that the employee may leak your details to a competitor in order to satisfy his personal grudge.
Another example of internal threats is when an employee tries to gain access to an authorized level using poorly configured access control in your system. On gaining access, the insider may try to steal your assets, destroy data, or conduct espionage.
In fact, before 2020, an incident took place where General Electric lost most of its tenders to a competitor business because its employees stole some of its trade secrets. As per the case report, the employee of the organization convinced the system’s administrator to provide access to an unauthorized level. On gaining access, the employees downloaded the files with trade secrets from the main server and misused them.
Common types of insider threats include unauthorized transfers of data, abuse of employee privileges, physical theft of company equipment, and data sharing.
Difference Between Internal and External Attacks in Security
Both internal and external threats are equally devastating. With external threats, attackers make use of malware such as worms, Trojan horse viruses, etc., to steal your confidential data and sell it on the dark web for a good price. It has been found that attackers can make a better living by stealing and reselling their data.
The insider threats, on the other hand, come from the personal grudges of a former employee, contractor, or other business partners who have access to an organization’s data and system. These are often accidental and mostly performed to carry out their personal vendetta. Under this, employees try to access confidential data and misuse it by selling to competitors or destroying it.
How to Prevent Your Data from Internal and External Threats?
One cannot fully protect its organization from both internal and external threats but can definitely reduce its chances of occurring and causing disastrous damage. Here are a few ways that can protect your organization against cyber attackers.
- Manage permissions and privileges
Assign permissions to people who perform compliance tasks and limit privileges. By managing permissions and privileges, businesses in a way are protecting their data from getting exposed to any given employee or outsider.
- Use strong authentication
Employees must focus on creating stronger passwords that are hard to crack. Also, in an organization, employees often share passwords which might increase the risk of fraud. Hence, make sure to apply strong multifactor authentication, i.e., smart cards, fingerprint readers, or use of strong ID and password with tokens to protect sensitive data, applications, or systems.
- Educate Employees on cybersecurity threats
It is important to guide and update your employees about the latest threats as most cybersecurity incidents take place due to an employee’s negligence. Hence, it is recommended to educate each employee about the types of external security threats and best practices to prevent them from happening.
- Device Management Policy Implementation
With proper device management, an organization can monitor, protect, and secure confidential data stored in the devices at all times. Let’s say, if your device is lost or stolen, it might pose an enormous security risk. Hence, organizations must implement a device management policy that secures all their applications and protects devices from security threats and data breaches.
Conclusion
Competing companies may use attacks as a means to gather exploitable information from competitors, or use the data collected to provide a competitive advantage. A security threat is a malicious act that destroys or steals data or disrupts an organization or an entire organization’s systems.
DDoS Attacks, Session Hijacking, Social Engineering, Phishing, abuse of employee privileges, and physical theft of company equipment are a few examples of internal and external security threats.
Like internal threats, external cybersecurity threats are designed to steal confidential information using malicious tools and tactics: common malware used for this purpose; phishing, worms, Trojans, etc. Internal threats are accidental and generally take place when an employee wants to destroy or damage the company’s goodwill to satisfy his personal grudge.
External threats, on the other hand, take place when an attacker wants to access or gain control over your system or data. In some cases, they even steal and sell your confidential data for a good price to make a better living.
Both internal and external threats are equally devastating. Hence, we have also listed some of the best practices that brief on how to prevent external threats and internal threats.
By managing permissions and privileges, using strong authentications, and implementing Device Management Policies, you can reduce the risk of internal and external threats.
Another way is to try the all-in-one cybersecurity program by Eduonix. Under this end-to-end cyber security program, you get 100+ hours of interactive training and certification upon course completion. Additionally, you get an opportunity to work on real-world projects and learn from some of the industry-renowned experts with a few clicks.
Today, online cybercriminals and hackers pose a big challenge to each organization, if not eliminate them, you can surely reduce the risk both internal and external threats pose to your organization. Just make sure you follow the right cybersecurity strategy and take immediate action on tracking any suspicious activity. Try to stay updated and implement the right tools and security measures for your business security.
Also Read: Importance Of Getting Cybersecurity Certification In 2021!
