Kworld Trend / Humans eternal weak link cybersecurity netwrk.akashtdr.com, Cybersecurity has been and will continue to be a more important problem than ever. As technology becomes more complex, more advanced, and more user-friendly, it becomes more vulnerable. We can blame it on a few factors, but one of them is the human element. Humans are the weakest link in any structure, and it’s no secret.
Humans eternal weak link cybersecurity netwrk.akashtdr.com
Technology exists to empower people. Whether they use it for personal or professional reasons, people are the common link driving technology adoption. On the other hand, while technology is often predictable, people are not. It’s easy to ask why humans are the weakest link in cybersecurity, but the answer – like people – is much more complex.
There is no denying that humans are the weakest link in cyber security. No matter how strong your technical defenses, such as a firewall , IPS, or IDS, can always be circumvented by a determined attacker if they can find a way to trick or coerce one of your employees into giving them access.
The reason for this is that humans are fallible and make mistakes. Mistakes in cybersecurity can have serious consequences, as we’ve seen with high-profile data breaches in recent years.
Humans are also the easiest target for cybercriminals. We can be social engineers to click on malicious links or open attachments that contain malware. Once our systems are infected, malware detection and removal can be difficult. Humans eternal weak link cybersecurity netwrk.akashtdr.com
What is social engineering?
Social engineering is a method of manipulating people into doing business or divulging confidential information. It is a type of security attack that takes advantage of human psychology rather than technical hacking techniques to gain access to sensitive data or systems.
Social engineering attacks are often difficult to detect because they rely on exploiting human rather than technical vulnerabilities. This makes them particularly dangerous, as even the most well-protected systems can be compromised if users are tricked into taking actions that allow attackers access.
There are many different types of social engineering attacks, but the most common ones include phishing, bait, and phishing. Humans eternal weak link cybersecurity netwrk.akashtdr.com
Why are people the weakest link in cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity professionals focus on three primary categories that help them protect data: people, processes, and technology. A look at each of these provides insight into why it is so easy to see people as the weakest link.
technology
Technology, by itself, never makes mistakes. People program the technology, and then the technology does what the people ask it to do. It can be verified and provide repeatable outputs, and even artificial intelligence (AI) is a series of algorithms programmed by people.
While technology may be flawed, as evidenced by software vulnerabilities, fixes for these flaws make it a lot easier due to objective solutions such as security patch updates.
Processes
Similar to technology, processes don’t work on their own. It is a set of steps that people follow so that they can repeatedly achieve a consistent result.
When a process crashes, people can review it, find the problem, and create an immediate solution by updating it. Similar to technology again, fixing a broken process has an obvious solution.
the people
Unlike technology and processes, people are complex. They think for themselves and make their own decisions. Sometimes, these are good decisions and sometimes they are bad decisions.
People are prone to error because there is no clear solution. People may make the same mistake many times because it is unpredictable. Basically, not being able to find a way to prevent people from making the same mistake more than once makes them the weakest link in the chain.
Four reasons why humans are the weakest link
There are four main reasons why humans are the weakest link in the security chain:
- Human beings are naturally trusting and want to believe in the best in people. We are more likely to fall for scams and social engineering attacks. Scammers and attackers know this, and they take advantage of our trust to get what they want from us.
- We are creatures of habit and often don’t want to change our routines. This can make it easier for attackers to exploit known vulnerabilities. For example, the attacker might know that you always check your email first thing in the morning. They could send you a phishing email at that time, counting on you to click on a link or attachment before you have a chance to think about it.
- We are often too busy to pay attention to details, which leads us to make mistakes that hackers can exploit.
- We can be emotional creatures, clouding our judgment and making us more vulnerable to social engineering attacks. We may let our guard down when we are emotionally invested in something, which can leave us vulnerable to scams and other fraudulent activities. Humans eternal weak link cybersecurity netwrk.akashtdr.com
What are the cyber security risks caused by humans?
The risks of human error can lead to several different types of cybersecurity concerns.
Weak passwords
As companies adopt more cloud-based technologies, people are creating more passwords. Unfortunately, people may not always remember everything, and they don’t like having to ask for a password reset because it reduces their productivity.
These two issues often lead people to use easy-to-remember passwords. Basically, this means that they often default to using:
- Same password on multiple sites
- Passwords that include a loved one’s name or season
- A string of numbers like 12345
These tricks prevent them from forgetting the password, but also make passwords an easy target for cybercriminals.
Weak authentication
For the same reason that people hate creating new passwords, they also tend to avoid multi-factor authentication (MFA). Any additional step, whether clicking the authenticator application or waiting for a code, creates a barrier to adoption. People want quick access to their resources.
wrong configurations
According to the 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), the misconfiguration error is at the top of the Miscellaneous Breach category. As stated in the report, “People remain fallible, and fallibility can cause data breaches.”
System administrators and developers can make mistakes that lead to data breaches. For example, forgetting to change the default password on a server makes it more likely that threat actors will gain access. Copying and pasting configuration from a serverless job to a different job is another potential cybersecurity risk caused by misconfiguration and risk of human error.
What types of attacks target the human factor?
Threat actors know that human error leaves organizations at risk, and they regularly try to exploit it.
Social engineering attacks
When cybercriminals engage in social engineering attacks , they specifically focus on exploiting vulnerabilities in human nature. For example, most phishing campaigns are successful because they prey on emotions. For example, they call for urgency so people won’t stop thinking. In their haste, they take action against the company and their own interests.
dictionary attacks
In a dictionary attack, cybercriminals attempt to break into a password-protected device or resource by systematically attempting several known weak passwords. Since lists of commonly used passwords can be easily found on the Internet, these attacks are often successful.
Malware and ransomware attacks
Malware and ransomware attacks are often successful because users fail to apply security updates that patch Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs). Patches can take a long time, and people often wait to install them. Cybercriminals use this knowledge to scan for vulnerabilities in devices, and then use it as part of ransomware and malware attacks.
Why about security training and resources?
People are fallible, and they make mistakes. Training and resources may not always be sufficient to give people the necessary skills. They provide awareness, but this is not the same as education.
Cyber security training
Most cyber security awareness training programs fail to incorporate educational best practices. Adults learn best when the program:
- applies to their real life
- Offers practical capabilities
- It gives them a way to build on previously learned information
Most security awareness programs offer a series of videos and multiple-choice quizzes that don’t give adult learners what they really need to learn.
tools
Many companies fail to supplement cyber security awareness training with tools that help people use best practices. Companies can purchase a multi-factor authentication solution.
However, this solves only part of the problem. Although the provision of password management technology is becoming more widespread, very few organizations offer this to their employees. Meanwhile, they add more apps that require more passwords. This leads to a vicious cycle of poor password hygiene. Humans eternal weak link cybersecurity netwrk.akashtdr.com
technical expertise
Remote work adds increasing challenges to businesses. With telecommuting, people connecting from home networks may be precarious. Quite frankly, most employees will not be able to securely configure their home network. Many may not even know how to change the default router password. Even VPNs are not completely secure. In the end, people may not have the necessary technical knowledge or expertise to protect data.
Managed detection and response to mitigate the risk of human error
While the risks of human error can lead to data breaches, companies are still responsible for mitigating the risks. With managed discovery and response (MDR), an attack is less likely to occur by monitoring for new threats, vulnerabilities, and misconfigurations. When devices, systems, and networks are compromised, MDR provides rapid detection, notification, and response routing.
As organizations work to reduce the impact of the risks of human error on their environments, MDR provides a way to improve their security posture. With complete coverage across the cloud, network, system, application, and endpoint, Fortra’s Alert Logic MDR solution gives companies the ability to leverage threat analytics by collecting, analyzing, and enriching data to detect and respond to advanced threats.
