Technology has made our lives significantly easier. Thanks to the ubiquity of the internet and recent advances in mobile technology, you can shop and bank online anywhere, anytime. The days when you had to walk into a brick and mortar store to buy stuff or transact are long gone. But there’s a downside to all this convenience. Due to our now highly digital lives, cybercriminals are unleashing complex cyberattacks on our data, day in day out.
Cyberattacks have evolved and we are no longer dealing with less sophisticated versions of viruses and trojans. Traditional antivirus does not offer sufficient protection anymore, we need to do more to protect ourselves. Antivirus software uses signature-based detection to identify and remove viruses from your computer. As malware gets more sophisticated, antivirus cannot recognize or detect it. Here are 3 cyberthreats that antivirus alone cannot protect against.
- Ransomware. In a ransomware attack, cybercriminals use technology to encrypt their victim’s data and hold it until they pay a ransom. Attackers will threaten to delete or expose your data if the ransom is not paid. Ransomware attacks have become very common in recent years, mostly targeting businesses and high net worth individuals.
- Cryptojacking. This is a fairly new type of cyberattack where hackers use your computer to mine cryptocurrency without your knowledge or consent. Mining cryptocurrency is a CPU intensive exercise and cryptojacking gives miners access to free computing power at the expense of the victim’s computer performance and digital security.
- AI-Enhanced Cyberthreats. Cybercriminals are increasingly using intelligent technologies to enhance their attacks. Attackers are now able to create programs that mimic known human behaviour using artificial intelligence. Integrating AI and machine learning into malware programs make it easier for hackers to bypass and infiltrate security systems.
How to Protect Yourself
Antivirus can catch classic viruses, trojans, and other generic malware cybercriminals can use to attack your devices. Therefore, antivirus is still an essential cybersecurity tool in 2020. But,as we have said before, it’s not enough to protect you against more sophisticated threats. Using a layered approach to cybersecurity is the only way to ensure that you are fully protected. Here are 3 effective security tools to use alongside your antivirus software.
Email Security
Hackers often use phishing emails to spread malware and infect your computer. Social engineering attacks such as email phishing exploit human psychology and can be very hard to defend against even with a good computer security system. Using email security tools can help you filter phishing emails and block them before they compromise your computer system. Email security tools can monitor both inbound and outbound mail traffic, giving you complete control over your inbox.
VPN
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is one of the most effective tools when it comes to defending against online threats. This tool provides privacy and anonymity online by hiding your true IP address and scrambling your internet traffic. That way, a VPN ensures that nobody can look into your online activity or steal your data. Learn the way a VPN works to protect you from hackers, malware, prying eyes, and DDoS attacks.
Vulnerability Scanner
A vulnerability scanner is an online security tool that can help you identify, classify, and mitigate cyber risks in your computer system. In the current threat landscape, you never know what’s going to hit you next. It’s always a good idea to be on the lookout for vulnerabilities in your network or computer system. By helping you find weak points in your system, this tool can help you ensure that you are protected at all times.
The past decade has seen some amazing technological advancements. We have all these new cool gadgets that we can use to make our lives more convenient. However, cybercriminals have also morphed their techniques and are launching more sophisticated cyberattacks by the day. Traditional detection-based antivirus alone can’t protect you from these new cyberthreats. Thankfully, there’s a wide variety of online security tools that we can use alongside antivirus to provide a decent level of protection.
