Before learning about types of cyber attacks, you must know what a cyber attack is. Basically, it is an attack performed by a group or an individual to gain unauthorized access to a system with the intent to harm the victim.

In this article, we will briefly learn about some of the most common types of cyber attacks and how to protect yourself from them.

1. Phishing:

Phishing involves sending emails that appear to be from trusted sources. The goal is to make the victim click on the link and trick them into giving their login credentials or spreading malware.

Spear phishing is carried out in the same way, except it is more focused on particular people. The attacker has to do some research on the victim before sending them the malicious link. For example, with a little research an attacker can find your friend’s email and send you the malicious link which might appear to be a legitimate email from your friend.

How to Protect yourself:

• Think before you click.
• Verify a site’s security.
• Never give out personal information.

2. Password Attack & Credential Reuse:

The attacker will use an array of password hacking techniques. The attacker might use a list of common ‘weak’ passwords, to sophisticated ‘Rainbow table’ attacks using previously hacked/cracked passwords.

How to protect yourself:
*Use a strong password.
*Don’t use the same password on different platforms.
*Use two-factor authentication (2FA).

3. DOS and DDOS:

It stands for Denial Of Service and Distributed Denial Of Service respectively. The difference between them is that DOS is an attack mode between a single machine and a single machine, whereas a DDOS attack is a large-scale attack mode based on DOS. DDOS uses a group of controlled computers (Botnets) to attack a host.
The idea of both these attacks is to send a high volume of data or traffic through a network that is making a lot of connection requests until the server becomes overloaded and can no longer function.

How to prevent DDOS attacks:
*Protect your DNS Servers.
*Configure your network hardware against DDOS attacks.

4. Drive-By Downloads:

Unlike other cyber attacks, you don’t have to open an email attachment or download anything. You will get infected simply by viewing an email or by visiting a website that will automatically download malware.

How to protect yourself:
*Keep your OS and browsers updated.
*Only keep the programs you need, the more plug-ins you have, the more vulnerable you are.

5. Man In The Middle(MitM):

The hacker places himself between two communicating hosts and listens to their information.
This attack is similar to the Eavesdropping attack but is much more dangerous. The attacker can not only listen to their information but can also impersonate one of them or change the context of the information being sent.

How to Protect Yourself:
*Make sure you use SSL certificates (HTTPS, not just HTTP) to enhance security.
*Use VPN to enhance security when using untrusted networks.

6. Malvertising:

This attack will compromise your system with malicious code that is automatically downloaded to your system when you click on an infected advertisement.

How to protect yourself:
*Don’t click on advertisements just because they look appealing.
*Keep your OS, browsers, and plug-in updated.

7. SQL Injection:

It stands for Structured Query Language Injection. The attacker inserts malicious SQL code into the website’s search box or input box. Once the code has been deployed, it might delete or modify data on the database and even copy the whole database.

How to protect yourself:
*Use input validation on input fields.
*Update and patch your software and database.

8. Zero-Day Exploit:

A Zero-Day exploit is an attack that occurs on the same day a weakness is discovered on software. This type of attack is usually hard to defend against since the precise nature of the attack is only known after it has happened. When a person discovers a vulnerability on software instead of directly reporting to the creators of the software, he decides to share this vulnerability on the internet. The hackers then exploit this vulnerability before the creators of the software could patch the vulnerability.
How to protect yourself:
*Keep your OS and software up-to-date.
*Only use SSL certified websites.