Cyber threats are the risks that hackers, terrorists, and criminal gangs pose to our nation’s critical infrastructure, intellectual property, innovation, and democracy. These attacks threaten our national security, cause kinetic damage, disrupt economies, and harm individuals. Our hyper-connectivity and digital dependencies make it easier for threat actors to cause destruction and exploitation.
Each year, the global economy pays billions in damages due to cyberattacks. These damages result from both direct expenses and costs associated with recovery. Some threats, like distributed denial of service (DDoS) and ransomware, directly take down systems or networks, leading to lost productivity, customer dissatisfaction, and financial loss. In addition, breaches often result in significant legal fees, regulatory fines, and reputational damage to companies and investors.
Other attacks, such as advanced persistent threats (APTs), steal information over extended periods of time. These attacks are difficult to detect and can have long-term consequences for the victim. Additionally, ransomware attacks encrypt data and demand payment for decryption keys. And man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks intercept communications between two parties and steal or manipulate data.
Whether it’s personal information that can be sold on the dark web or sensitive military and national security data that can be used by terrorists, cyberattacks affect everyone in our society. The work of cyberthreat researchers—like the 250 team at Talos—helps prevent these attacks by revealing new vulnerabilities, educating the public on cybersecurity, and strengthening open-source tools. In a world where threats are constantly evolving, our only defense is to continually update and monitor our security systems and educate employees on how to avoid common phishing techniques.