What you should know about cyberattacks in 2018

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2017 has not been very lucky in evading some of the biggest cybersecurity threats in recent history, which affected millions of businesses and consumers through attacks such as WannaCry and Uber data breaches. Think about one in every 15 websites secretly being taken over by cybercriminals to steal credit card information or other personal data. Now more than ever, website owners should be alert and accept the possibility that they could be part of statistics.

Here are some cyberattack trends that everyone needs to be aware of in 2018.

Cryptojacking, which started to explode toward the end of 2017, could rise in incidence as the value of cryptocurrencies further escalates. The largest portion of this activity is likely to take place from legitimate websites compromised to mine currency for the criminal wallet. The world could also see more PowerShell-based attacks, which are malicious script-based attacks that are very difficult to identify and can easily evade antivirus engines.

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In 2018, more cybercriminals are predicted to more frequently use worms to launch malware. More malware families are seen to use the WannaCry and Trickbot use worm functionality so spread, as network compromise from worms proliferate faster than many other techniques.

In general, cyber attackers are expected to take advantage of website visitors through different means, including backdoor files (allowing them administrative access without website owner’s knowledge), direct visitor attacks (accounting for 26 percent of malicious files cleaned by website security provider SiteLock in the third quarter of 2017), and phishing kits or illegitimate replicas of popular sites such as Google or online banking apps.

Website security should be given ample attention and be an ongoing strategy for organizations. Users should use stronger, unique passwords; update apps and add-ons as soon as security patches are available; and maintain offsite backups of all content, to name a few methods for protection.

SiteLock is a global leader in business website security solutions founded in 2008 and serving over 8 million customers worldwide. Read more on this website.s