The Threat
Landscape
Cyber-a acks con nue to evolve in scope and sophis ca on –
it's much larger than hacking and data breaches.
Research firm Gartner forsees the worldwide informa on security
market is forecast to reach $170.4 billion in 2022. According to IBM,
the average cost of a data breach is $3.86 million as of 2020.
While scale and scope vary, a acks fall into one of the following five
categories.
1. Network and Applica on Layer A acks
Applica on layer a acks are the hardest to defend against, because this is
the layer that is most exposed. These a acks result in a suspension of internet-
connected server and network resources. Exploit kits, readily available on the black
market, make these a acks easy to launch and difficult for companies to resolve. There
are many different methods — here a just a few:
Denial of service (DDoS) — This a ack targets either the applica on layer or the
network layer where traffic floods the network to prevent authorized users from accessing
informa on or services.
Network level: Malicious packets are sent over many different network protocols to clog the
pipes to consume the bandwidth and prevent access to the target.
Applica on level: Also known as an HTTP flood, consumes a Web server's CPU and RAM to deny
legi mate clients from accessing the server.
Brute Force — Passwords, session iden fiers, directories and credit cards are deciphered through trial
and error to determine an unknown value by using an automated process. This a ack underlines the
importance of using complicated passwords and two-factor authen ca on.
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) A acks — A acks with names like Lucky 13, RC4 Cipher, Heartbleed, POODLE,
Shellshock and FREAK work to decrypt protected browser cookies and encrypted SSL communica ons.
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