<aside> 💡 Antivirus software can no longer prevent cyberattacks; hence, the risk of cyberattacks has become a question of “when” cyber attacks will happen. This page aims to inform readers about the various aspects of cyber attacks, including cybercriminals and their motivations, the types, impacts, harm and costs of cyberattacks, Bill C-26 and the responses of private and public organizations to cyberattacks. Additionally, this page informs readers about the significance of cybersecurity and why individuals and companies should implement cybersecurity measures.
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Cyber attacks are deliberate attempts to interfere with electronic data transmissions, corrupt data, or obtain unauthorized access to electronic systems. Cyber attacks can originate from a variety of places and take many different forms to launch a cyber attack. Regardless of where cyber attacks originate from and how they manifest, they have the potential to seriously harm both people and organizations by stealing sensitive data, disrupting systems, paralyzing them and causing financial loss, reputational damage and legal repercussions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ej-ZNDnoDY
This YouTube video is an anatomy of a cyber attack, demonstrating how easy it is for hackers to infiltrate an organization and demand a ransom for crucial data.
Cybercriminals are malicious actors that engage in harmful activities to intentionally cause harm in the digital sphere to carry out disruptive attacks on individuals and organizations. Cybercriminals alter or infect data for various reasons, including exfiltrating or manipulating information, degrading the network’s performance and extorting the owner. While some cybercriminal actors attack weak systems opportunistically, others conduct threatening behaviour against specific people or groups; regardless, cybercriminals value having access to hardware, processing power, computer resources and information. Generally, cybercriminals can be categorized by their motivations, each having a unique way of operating.
Nation state actors are highly skilled cybercriminals at the international level that target foreign governments and organizations as tools for economic, political, and military objectives. The government supports nation state actors, enabling them to act confidently because there is little chance that they would be apprehended. The nation state actors have the right to hack into any network at the government’s behest to get, produce, or affect their targets' data. The government then uses the illegal data amassed by state actors to exert control over and manipulate an economy in its favour. Nation state actors rely on sophisticated malware specifically crafted for their target and frequently includes rootkits, a collection of computer software, for a persistent presence, encryption to thwart reverse engineering and codes to hide its presence.
Thrill seekers are that hack alone, with their primary objective of pursuing thrills. They do not spend much time or effort learning computers independently; instead, they are more likely to exploit existing codes. Although most thrill seekers hack for amusement, attention and bragging rights, they can still be a significant threat.
Combining hacking and activism, hacktivists are a subset of cybercriminals that launch cyberattacks in support of a common ideology, which may be political, regional, social, religious, anarchist, or personal. Hacktivists tend to target and reveal the actions or injustices of powerful individuals, government institutions and multinational corporations and are able to spread their message and draw attention to the issue they are protesting for by using special tools to gain access and leak information. While some hacktivist organizations favour anonymity, others do not. Over the years, hacktivists groups such as the DkD[||, Cult of the Dead Cow, Syrian Electronic Army, Anonymous, WikiLeaks and LulzSec have all gained national attention and notoriety.