How Cyberattacks Work

How Cyberattacks Work
Cyberattacks are run like military attacks, in four main phases: reconnaissance, attack, exfiltration, and maintaining position. Understanding this makes fighting back easier.

The summer of 2020 was unlike any other. COVID-19 left a mark as people remained at home, isolated from their colleagues and another step (or steps) away from their work systems and protections. As such, cyberattacks rose, and it wasn't always pretty.


Think back to July when Twitter was hacked. The accounts of several high-profile figures — including Barack Obama and Elon Musk — became unwitting parts of a Bitcoin scam.


Just over a week later, Garmin was hit by a WastedLocker ransomware attack that took down many of its systems. Although the company claims user data wasn't compromised, even the prospect that a cybercriminal could gain access to a user's location data and habits was unsettling. The attack also reportedly cost the company $10 million in its decision to pay the ransom.


The same day, the National Security Agency (NSA) and Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) also issued an alert with its recommended "immediate actions to reduce exposure across operational technologies and control systems" in an attempt to protect critical systems from attacks that could cause serious issues for millions of Americans.


Cyberattacks have been increasing in number and complexity over the past several years, but given the prevalence of events, and signals that greater attacks could be on the horizon, it’s a good time to examine what goes into a cyberattack.


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