Recent times have brought about worrying cyber security issues such as the Heartbleed bug, the CryptoLocker ransom trojan and more variants of file-encrypting ransomware, such as Cryptowall and Cryptodefensybe, indicating a surge in cyber attacks, the International Business Times reports, quoting data by security company Palo Network.

The report shows that cyber criminals have taken to attacking widely used business applications in order to go past traditional security controls. The trend is pushing enterprises to take steps to protect themselves from the attacks of tomorrow, not just the existing threats of today.

Also revealed within the report is that common sharing applications (CSM) of the IM, e-mail, social media and video account variety represent almost one-third of all applications on the network. As this accounts for just 5% of all threat activity, CSM are increasingly used as the first step of a cyber attack.

Some consumers are too trusting when it comes to social media apps, inadvertently opening more doors for attackers to access the network. Cyber criminals don’t stop at CSM. They are increasingly using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology, File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) as a cover up for their malicious activities.

Top tips to protect your business

• The best defence is for businesses to enhance their protection and focus their efforts on prevention, warding off attacks instead of trying to fix the damage inflicted by breaches they fall victim to.
• Educate your workforce about cyber threats and the dangers they pose. Making employees understand that the applications and public networks they use could be used as access points by cyber criminals is of paramount importance.
• And, of course, businesses should keep their cyber defences updated so they can effectively combat the new techniques cyber attackers use.