This model has made it easier than ever for individuals with little technical knowledge to carry out cyber attacks.
“Cybercrime has become its own economy,” Microsoft APAC chief cyber security adviser Abbas Kudrati said.
“Barriers to participation are minimal, as anyone who is willing to pay for it can use CaaS (cybercrime-as-a-service ) on the dark web. They no longer require special coding skills or to develop their own malicious software.
“There is a marketplace where one group of adversaries will create a ransomware kit, and the second group will help them target customers and launch attacks. A third or fourth group will take the data out of the organisation. Another group will help them send the data out in the dark web.”
Ransomware kits are also inexpensive and easily accessible, and buyers can be partly refunded if the kit does not work, according to Mr Kudrati.
“The fact that cybercrime has its own marketplace and economy is creating significant challenges for organisations and other defenders,” he said.
“They’re constantly attacked via various means, including phishing emails that include malicious links. When someone clicks on them, the malware gets downloaded to their device.”
This could include ransomware, which could either steal or encrypt the data and hold organisations to ransom, explained Mr Kudrati.
Organisations may feel compelled to pay the ransom to the threat actors to recover this data.
Creating greater protection awareness
Businesses will need to have awareness and training to avert and prevent these attacks, but developing a strategy that is tailored to the types of attackers is key, according to Mr Kudrati.
Organisations must also understand what data their organisation stores and the types of threats they are susceptible to.
For example, to prevent phishing email attacks, businesses could implement multifactor authentication for every employee.
“Instead of using just a password, use an authenticator app, which will ask for second-factor authentication if anyone wants to access systems within their environment,” Mr Kudrati said.
“So, even if your password is compromised, your system is secure because hackers won’t have the second factor.”
In addition, patch management systems should be updated to fix vulnerabilities in software and applications that are susceptible to cyber attacks.
Organisations should also find ways to protect their identity architecture and regularly review who has access to their organisation.
“Having good visibility of who has access to what and reviewing it frequently goes a long way in defending an organisation against all sorts of threats, including different types of malware, including ransomware and phishing emails,” Mr Kudrati said.
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