What is a Cyberattack?

A cyberattack refers to any attempt (successful or not) to steal data or comprise a computer, network, or device. While cyberattacks are generally intentional efforts made by threat actors, there are also accidental cyberattacks, such as those made by human error.

Cyberattack statistics

Cyberattacks can cause significant disruption and damage to your MSP or IT enterprises, especially if you do not proactively mitigate security vulnerabilities. Let’s look at some numbers:

• 75% increase in cloud intrusions in 2024 (CrowdStrike).
• 54% of organizations have an insufficient knowledge of cyber vulnerabilities in their supply chain (World Economic Forum).
• The global average cost of data breaches in 2024 is $4.88M (IBM)
• Worldwide cybercrime costs are expected to reach $10.5 trillion annually by 2025 (Cybersecurity Ventures).
• 56% of organizations say that they are more likely to be a target of ransomware attacks in 2024 (State of Ransomware).

Interested in learning more? Read our article on the 7 SMB Cybersecurity statistics you need to know in 2024.

Why do cyberattacks happen?

There are many reasons why cyberattacks happen, but they can generally categorized into three:

• Criminal/Financial
• Political
• Personal

Criminal

The most common reason for cyberattacks is financial gain. Cybercriminals may want to steal credentials or perform social engineering scams to extort vulnerable organizations.

Example: One of the more recent examples of this is the massive data breach at the National Public Data. According to reports, around 2.7 billion data records, including personally identifiable information such as Social Security numbers, were compromised and found on a dark web forum.

Political

Politically motivated cyberattacks are often associated with cyberterrorism or cyber-warfare. Activist hackers, often called “hacktivists”, target their enemy government’s critical infrastructure to find and gain access to sensitive data. Though some such attacks may also be financially motivated, most hacktivists are typically more interested in making their attacks known to the public.

Example: Hacktivist groups worldwide have been reported to be targeting various French websites with distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks following the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov.

Personal

Personally motivated cyberattacks are often done to seek retribution for a real or perceived slight against another party. They can take many forms, including stealing money, damaging networks, or causing all sorts of harm for revenge.

Example: A disgruntled ex-employee at a Singaporean IT firm deleted 180 virtual servers from his company’s systems. Reports state that the firm suffered damages of around S$918,000 (US$678,000).

Other motivations of cybercriminals

Some IT experts summarize the motivations of a cyber attack as M.I.C.E., or Money, Ideology, Compromise, and Ego. These descriptions are similar to the above but also consider human pride (ego) a contributing factor to cybersecurity threats. Rather than a cyber attack being caused actively for revenge, an employee may inadvertently trigger an attack because they already believe “they know everything” or forget to follow through with cybersecurity principles (human error). These are called insider threats.

What are the common types of cyberattacks?

We’ve created other resources that go more in-depth into the different types of cyberattacks:

• Malware
  • Malware-as-a-service
  • Trojan Horses
  • Ransomware
    • Ransomware-as-a-service
  • Scareware
  • Spyware
  • Rootkits
  • Worms
• Social engineering
  • Phishing
  • Spear phishing
• Denial-of-service attacks
• Man-in-the-middle attacks

You can also check out our complete list of the most common cyber attacks and how to prevent them. 

Preventing, detecting, and responding to cyberattacks

Your organization can reduce the risk of cyberattacks by implementing a robust cybersecurity strategy.

Preventing cyberattacks

• Consider installing firewalls to block bad actors from entering your IT network.
• Implement identity and access management (IAM) policies, including least-privilege access and multi-factor authentication, to ensure that only the right people can access the appropriate resources.
• Develop a comprehensive business continuity plan to ensure sensitive data is backed up and recovered in the event of a cybersecurity incident.
• Conduct regular security awareness training to help team members understand the most common cyber attacks.
• Use various vulnerability management tools, including patch management and penetration testing.
• Maximize endpoint management tools like NinjaOne to easily monitor, manage, and secure your endpoints.

Detecting cyberattacks

• Antivirus and anti-malware software can regularly scan your IT networks for malicious codes. For additional information, you can check out our article on the 10 best malware protection solutions. 
• Security information and event management (SIEM) tools can help detect cyberattacks before they cause significant organizational impact.

Responding to cyberattacks

• Security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) enable your IT teams to coordinate disparate security tools, allowing you to respond to cyberattacks in real time.
• Extended detection and response (XDR) solutions can automate cyberattack prevention, detection, and response processes.
• Specific incident response plans can remediate various kinds of cyberattacks. Here are 6 keys to consider if you’re an MSP.

How NinjaOne reduces cyberattack risks

NinjaOne is the trusted endpoint management company for 17,000+ clients worldwide. With a robust solution and easy-to-use interface, NinjaOne helps you easily monitor, manage, and secure your Windows, macOS, and Linux endpoints in a single pane of glass. The platform also integrates with leading cybersecurity applications to give you all-in-one software.

If you’re ready, request a free quote, sign up for a 14-day free trial, or watch a demo.