Now that cybersecurity is becoming a more central focus in mainstream news, it’s important that users continue to educate themselves on cybersecurity topics. With new technologies evolving at a rapid clip, and consequently so many different types of security threats out there, it’s difficult to know where to start. Here are some key cybersecurity threats that should be on the radar of businesses and end-users alike.
Bluetooth Hacking
Bluetooth is a form of wireless communication that simplifies communication between devices. Originally used to transfer simple data, such as photos and other media between devices, Bluetooth has evolved into a major technology staple. From cell phones to watches to air purifiers to thermostats, it seems like everything is connected by Bluetooth. Unfortunately, all of these connections mean more points of attack for malicious actors to leverage. This article explores the different methods of attack that hackers can use to leverage vulnerabilities in Bluetooth devices.
- Apart from attack techniques, threat actors can also leverage vulnerabilities in Bluetooth implementations to gain access to victims’ devices.
- Some of the known vulnerabilities are BlueBorne and Bleedingbit.
Threats Impacting Smartphones
It’s no secret that smartphones changed the world. From the beginning, smartphones broke the cell phone mold by offering what now seem like totally basic features like GPS Navigation. Today, smartphones have evolved to the point that they contain detailed data that encompasses our digital lives. With all of the private data stored on our mobile devices, it’s becoming more and more important that we protect our smartphones by observing secure browsing behaviors. This article gives a brief rundown of the most common forms of attacks targeting your smartphone and what you can do to protect yourself from them.
Cyber Threats Impacting Smartphones that You Should Know About
- Smartphones are used for a number of things every day — from transferring funds to accessing official information.
- Infiltrating into a smartphone means access to a treasure of personal and confidential information for hackers.
Cryptojacking
By now most users are familiar with at least some form of cryptocurrency, most likely the highly publicized Bitcoin. What most people might not know is how cryptocurrency is generated: through a process called cryptomining. In order to generate a unit of cryptocurrency, computer processing power is used to solve highly complex cryptographic equations and the first person to solve the equation gets the unit of cryptocurrency. As the total amount of cryptocurrency generated grows, the complexity of the equations grow as well, meaning more and more computer processing power is required to solve the equation. In efforts to solve the next equation first, hackers often hijack unsuspecting users’ systems to steal their machine’s processing power. this is called cryptojacking.
The primary danger with cryptojacking is that it uses up a large amount of processing power, meaning that it is stealing power away from users’ legitimate processes. What’s more, cryptojacked machines are likely being used all day and all night, putting extreme stress on the machine which will likely result in costly machine failures. The secondary danger with cryptojacking is that these activities are funding hackers and their malicious activities. The more cryptocurrency that hackers are able to generate, the more they are able to fund other hacking activities. This article further explores cryptojacking, including ways it can be detected and prevented
What You Need to Know About Cryptojacking
- Cryptojacking is the unauthorized use of a machine’s processing power to mine cryptocurrencies. In most cases, the victim does not know that the device is being used.
- Unlike many cyber threats, cryptojacking is meant to operate without the knowledge of the user.
Written by ArmorPoint Security Analyst Ven Auva’a, the ArmorPoint Threat Insider is an expert-led breakdown of current events in the cybersecurity sector.
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