Most organizations now realize the dangers of hacking and associated risks. They also understand the odds of being a hacking target are higher than ever.
But how does management know when a company has been hacked? This is an important aspect of hacking, because cyber-attacks can sometimes lay dormant until the time is just right for an all-out offensive.
The sooner you know you have been a hacking victim the better your odds of lessening the financial and reputational consequences.
A common warning sign is a slower than usual network. A slow computer isn’t significantly alarming, but, if the system is running slowly, your company could be experiencing a data breach, as network slowness can be generated by transferring files outside the network, or it can indicate onboard malware or viruses or suspicious outbound traffic.
Another hacking red flag is anomalous account activity. Once a hacker establishes a presence on a system, the next move typically is to elevate system privileges or move laterally to users with higher privileges. System monitoring can establish a baseline for the type of systems accessed regularly along with information such as when and which files were accessed and altered.
Analysts believe this kind of the suspicious activity should prompt an investigation, account disabling or removal of rogue accounts. Two-factor authentication and more-complex passwords can thwart an attacker or extend the time it takes for a determined criminal to break into an account, increasing the chance the attack will be spotted.
Also be alert to file changes. Upon obtaining access to an organization’s network, hackers may modify, change, or delete essential system files in an attempt to avoid detection.
These changes may be completed in minutes or even less. If your organization is not monitoring critical system files actively, these signs of a data breach can stay undetected for a long period of time.
There can be a massive amount of changes to critical files, especially for organizations with complex IT infrastructures. Having the ability to differentiate between regular changes and changes that indicate a data breach in progress is key.
Consequently, organizations need the technical ability to identify positive, neutral, and negative changes in real time.
Want to learn more? Tonex offers Introduction to Hacking Training, a 3-day course that introduces participants to the world of computer hacking and hacker’s approaches against security. The advanced hacking training gives you the comprehensive understanding of hackers and how the systems can be attacked so that proper defense techniques can be implemented.
Introduction to Hacking Training covers the main topics in ethical hacking including: introduction to modern IT and vulnerabilities, ethical hacking phases, network hacking, system hacking, reconnaissance and Foot printing, SQL injection, mobile platform hacking, web hacking, sniffing, enumeration, session hijacking, social engineering, scanning, stack smashing and operating system security.
For more information, questions, comments, contact us.