Technology plays an important role in today’s society, and as such, cyberthreats look to subvert everyone’s reliance on it to their own benefit. Browser hijacking attacks are on the rise, so we thought we’d focus today’s blog on exploring some of the techniques used in these types of attacks and how small or medium-sized businesses can keep themselves safe.

Exploring Browser Hijacking Attacks

Browser hijacking attacks occur when malicious software gets installed onto a web browser. Some of the common types of threats associated with these attacks include adware and spyware, but more dangerous threats like ransomware and keyloggers are also problematic. More often than not, the goal of these types of attacks is to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data or to disrupt the user.

What are Their Techniques?

As for how hackers hijack browsers, they’ll do so through the distribution of hijacking software through phishing emails or exploiting vulnerabilities in the operating system. They might try to sneak past any security vulnerabilities in outdated browser versions or use compromised websites to directly distribute the threats through malicious advertisements.

How Do These Attacks Impact Businesses?

Businesses need to be aware of the dangers of browser hijacking attacks, especially SMBs that have limited resources to protect themselves against them. If you fail to keep your browsers secure, you could experience considerable financial losses or a damaged reputation from failing to keep your data safe. You might also experience operational challenges as you attempt to recover from a data breach. Understanding the risks and taking measured steps to mitigate them will prove crucial to your continued success in the business world.

How Can You Protect Your Business?

1. Keep software and browsers updated

Keep your operating system, antivirus software, and web browsers up-to-date; this helps to keep your business secure from new and existing threats.

2. Implement robust cybersecurity measures

Your business needs to have antivirus and anti-malware measures in place, as well as firewalls and intrusion detection systems. Furthermore, you must educate your employees on how to practice safe browsing habits and how to avoid dangerous links or downloads.

3. Enable automatic updates and patches

Don’t leave anything to user error if you don’t need to; set your systems up to automatically install updates and patches.

4. Regularly backup critical data 

A backup strategy in place will help you ensure that your business is safe regardless of what happens throughout the course of operations. A good solution will have offline and off-site backups in place so you can recover fast from any potential security breach or exploit.

Compudata can help your business understand the threats these attacks can pose, as well as take steps to protect itself from them. To learn more, call us today at 1-855-405-8889.