Upadhyaya says that as workflows shift to browsers, so do the source of attacks: “These attacks will be in the form of phishing, malware, business email compromise, credential theft and sensitive data leakage.”
Protecting data in the browser is complicated because the browser itself is vulnerable, he says, noting that a lot of malware gets reassembled in the browser.
“There are extensions that start as benign, productive extensions but morph into malicious extensions, and this is where the new attack vectors are coming in,” he says
AI has also lowered the barrier to entry for attackers by increasing the number of attack vectors and making it easier to compromise SMBs’ networks. Bad actors can use generative AI to create localized and context-aware phishing emails at a larger scale than seen before, says Upadhyaya.
“These email campaigns are so sophisticated that they could monitor your LinkedIn to find a new employee and then email the CEO with some specific information about that employee to create an attack,” he explains. “There’s much more context behind these attacks, which makes it very difficult to figure out if the attack is real or not.”
Another major challenge is that some SMBs are sitting on legacy anti-virus and endpoint security problems, which are completely ineffective in this new landscape, according to Upadhyaya.
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Following are some threats that SMB leaders must protect against.
Phishing Attacks
Phishing emails are one of the top ways bad actors try to infiltrate a business. These emails typically impersonate someone in the company in an attempt to either take short-term gains in the form of gift cards, for example, or long-term gains in the form of gathering user credentials to launch a larger attack.
AI is making it even easier for phishing emails to slip by security tools and end users. Generative AI can be used to write emails that sound like they’re written by a native speaker. AI can even be used to gather information about a target so the emails sound more personal and real. With this in mind, SMBs should focus on security training in addition to other security controls implemented to stop phishing attacks.
Ransomware and Malware
According to the FBI, “Ransomware is a type of malicious software — or malware — that prevents you from accessing your computer files, systems or networks and demands you pay a ransom for their return. Ransomware attacks can cause costly disruptions to operations and the loss of critical information and data.”
A user can accidentally download ransomware or malware via email attachment, an unknown link, visiting a website or clicking on an ad.
Ransomware attacks are highly lucrative for cybercriminals. They can hold certain data or access for ransom, and even after being paid a large sum of money to release control of a business’s systems, they could still release data on the black market, endangering an SMB’s reputation and overall business.
DDoS Attacks
A distributed denial of service attack, or DDoS attack, targets websites and servers, according to Microsoft. Their goal is to exhaust an application’s resources by flooding a site with false traffic. This can result in reduced website functionality or even a website crash. These types of attacks especially focus on businesses in the gaming, e-commerce and telecommunications industries, according to Microsoft.
Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) Attacks
In a man-in-the-middle attack, a bad actor intercepts a communication pathway between two devices or services and aims to capture the traffic and forward it to an attacker, continuing the communication. With this style of attack, a bad actor could alter security information and intercept traffic. Many businesses don’t notice that they’ve been compromised until it’s too late.
Drive-By Downloads
According to McAfee, now Trellix, a drive-by download occurs when a user visits a web page. They don’t need to click or accept any software. Instead, malicious code downloads in the background while on the web page. This type of attack exploits the vulnerabilities present in a browser, app or operating system. The initial code downloaded is often smaller, intended to connect the device with another so it can download the rest of the malicious code unknowingly.
Software Vulnerability Exploitation
The Log4j vulnerability is a memorable example of a software vulnerability exploitation. Cyberattackers can discover a vulnerability that exists within a specific software and exploit that vulnerability across users to launch an attack on a larger scale. It’s important that when these vulnerabilities become known, SMBs take the necessary steps to patch them and protect themselves from a costly cyberattack.
