What is the difference between cyber attacks and cyber threats?

The data and confidential information of people around the world are contained in computerized systems, like the information of the most important companies, this makes them vulnerable to being leaked or someone with bad intentions accessing them, which can cause unimaginable havoc. This is considered a cyberattack.

According to the definition given by IBM, "Cyberattacks are unwanted attempts to steal, expose, alter, disable or destroy information through unauthorized access to computer systems."

A cyberattack, which is associated with cyber warfare or even cyber-terrorism, can have many motives for occurring, but generally falls into one of three categories: a criminal, political, or personal motive. Governments and nations around the world are turning to modern cybersecurity systems to keep their information and data safe.

Reasons for a cyberattack

When a cyberattack occurs for criminal reasons, the attacker seeks money through blackmail, this is more common in world-renowned companies, such as what happened with Sony Pictures when several secrets about their upcoming films were leaked. Similarly, the personally motivated, such as disgruntled current or former employees, will take money, data, or a mere opportunity to disrupt a company's system.

When the motives of a cyberattack are social or political, the attacker seeks attention for whatever cause they support, for this reason, the attacks are usually made public, the most famous being those perpetrated by the Anonymous group.

What is a cyber threat?

UpGuard, a portal specialized in cybersecurity, offers a simple and clear definition of what a cyber threat is “A cyber or cybersecurity threat is a malicious act that seeks to damage data, steal data or interrupt digital life in general. Cyber ​​threats include computer viruses, data breaches, denial of service (DoS) attacks, and other attack vectors.

A cyber threat can come from hostile nations, for example, seeking to attack those countries that for them are their enemies. Associated with this, terrorist groups have also been increasingly focused on computerized systems to perpetuate their acts of attack.

A cyber threat does not always come from such a large attacker. Companies and organizations could be under threat from their own collaborators or people who at some point belonged to one of these and left in a bad way, threatening to expose some confidential information due to the access they have to internal data. Also, natural disasters must be taken into account, which can damage technological infrastructures and cause great damage that translates into millionaire losses.

What is the difference between a cyber attack and a cyber threat?

Cyberattack and cyber threat are two terms that are connected to each other, but with slight differences. When it comes to cyberattacks, there has already been an offensive action against a computerized system of a nation or a company, violating its security and putting any confidential information at risk.

A cyber threat, on the other hand, is the possibility that such an attack could occur, setting off the alarms of the organization or nation and triggering its cybersecurity tools to stay protected.

For example, a DDoS cyber-attack by a botnet can be considered a cyber threat to retail businesses and their websites, which are at risk of lost revenue due to website downtime.

Uses of cybersecurity tools to avoid a cyber attack

Cybersecurity is completely necessary for a company, nation, or person to keep their data and confidential information safe and secure from any type of cyber attack.

Its purpose, to summarize, is to prevent the leaking of confidential information, identity theft, and cyber attacks, allowing this to be able to manage the risks to which a company or organization is exposed. An effective cybersecurity tool must be implemented and managed by a team of experts, to prevent data leakage and attacks on computerized systems that could lead to the bankruptcy of the company.

Based on this, the cybersecurity teams will be in charge of keeping the company's anti-attack systems fully updated, protecting themselves from new viruses that appear at all times within the computerized world.

At Rootstack, we have a team of experts trained to offer the cybersecurity that your company needs in the face of these attacks. Do not let another minute pass with confidential data of clients and collaborators in a vulnerable state, secure the present and future of your organization.

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