With continuously evolving digital systems and technologies, cyber attacks are on the rise and the consequences are often intense.
Companies end up paying hundreds of thousands of dollars as ransom because of one small data breach or security mistake.
Cyber criminals mainly target money and information, and the finance and technology industries are the most vulnerable.
Let us take a look at 8 industries that are most susceptible to cyber attacks.
1. Finance
It is no surprise that most cyber criminals target the finance industry because that is where the cash lies.
Apart from access to valuable financial resources, they also get access to confidential financial information and data that is not available to the general public.
This can be done in several ways, either through unauthorized login or phishing emails.
Phishing emails often include links to an unverified site, which can trick the employee into sharing sensitive information like passwords and other credentials.
2. Healthcare
The healthcare industry has a huge bank of confidential patient information, which makes it a breeding spot for cyber criminals.
This, coupled with busy healthcare professionals who usually ignore or forget to comply with strong security protocols, leaves vulnerable spots open for attack. As such, it is also easier to retrieve patient information compared to financial data.
Cyber criminals can utilize patient information to blackmail them.
Many healthcare places also lack a strong IT infrastructure.
They follow traditional or manual data upkeep practices that make private medical information vulnerable to attacks.
3. Manufacturing
Many manufacturing companies are unaware of the severity of cyber threats because they believe that they don’t offer much value to cyber criminals.
Intellectual property, like product designs and information about special manufacturing processes, is a valuable asset.
For example, many automotive industries face issues where criminals gain access to their vehicle systems through connected devices like mobile phones or apps.
Because of increasing security breaches, automotive companies and car dealerships need to implement strong security measures.
They can do this through up-to-date security software and middleware vendor platforms with identity verification, like eLending Solutions, for safe and secure transactions.
4. Retail
The retail industry is also an overflowing bank of customers’ personal and financial information.
More retail shops are switching to digital information processing and storing, which are easily exploited by cyber criminals.
They can steal money by obtaining credit and debit card information from exposed customer databases.
5. Education
Educational institutions have an enormous database of student information and most of them resort to paying huge ransoms to save face.
Smaller institutions are more vulnerable than larger ones because they have less money to invest in proper security measures.
6. Public Administration
Public offices and government administration arguably hold one of the biggest and most confidential databases, which puts them at immense risk for cyber attacks.
While most government portals have sufficiently strong security measures, a lot of these attacks happen when hackers steal employee IDs and commit cyber fraud.
7. Transportation
Today, the transportation sector relies heavily on digital systems and software for operations like fleet management and location tracking.
Flaws in the system can expose important information about GPS systems and shipment details, which puts companies at huge risk.
8. Small Businesses
Small businesses tend to have the weakest security measures because they tend to pick cheap software that offers limited features.
Business owners also have limited information regarding authorization of sites and network defenses, which makes them an easy target, even for inexperienced cyber criminals.
Conclusion
Investing in high security systems should be the priority of all industries, whether big or small.
Businesses should start integrating modern cybersecurity solutions into existing software and keep up with regular security updates to protect their databases.
