Is It Possible to Predict Cyberattacks?

Gemma Goldstein, writing on the Cyberint blog, explains how it might be possible to predict cyberattacks before they start or catch them in their beginning stages. Different warning signs precede various types of attacks.

When hackers go phishing for employees who can be tricked into handing over sensitive information some prep work is required. If you see signs of it, a phishing attack is likely to happen. 

According to the article, to predict cyberattacks relying on phishing, look for the creation of domains designed to resemble a legitimate business — gogle.com instead of google.com is an example. Not all such domains are nefarious, but many are, so it’s important to monitor their activity.

Registration of social media profiles that impersonate a company or an employee is often used in phishing attacks. Site cloning is a virtually certain sign that a phishing attack is imminent, and serves as a last chance to block it.

Monitoring vendors to predict when your supply chain is jeopardized is a good strategy. If that poses practical problems, then detecting attacks against vendors in their early stages buys time to isolate its products within your IT. Monitoring for discussions of active attacks or stolen credentials can reveal breaches before vendors become aware of or disclose them.

The article also outlines ways to detect account takeover attacks, distributed denial-of-service attacks, ransomware attacks, and several other less common hacks.

“What matters most in forecasting all types of attacks,” it says, “is gathering all available threat intelligence data, determining which risks are most serious for your business, and taking steps to mitigate them. Mapping and managing your attack surface is critical, too, for knowing which types of assets might be at risk.”