Today, there are many different types of viruses and malware. They perform many different functions, but almost all of them are designed to steal your data. And no one is immune to such attacks, neither big corporations nor the average freelancer online.
And many people have one misconception – if you get hacked, you will know about it immediately. And that’s a profound mistake. Many cases of hacking go undetected for weeks, or even months or more.
The sooner you discover a breach in your system, the sooner you can localize the damage and reduce the risk to you or your company. But how do you detect a breach before it causes more negative consequences than necessary?
Let’s break down what the early warning signs are and what you can do to prevent a potential disaster.
Why Speed Of Reaction Matters
There’s a special report from IBM called “The Cost of Data Leaks.” And it says in plain text that on average it takes more than 200 days to detect a leak.
That’s almost seven months
During which time hackers can easily continue to access your entire system. And that’s too bad. So the sooner you can detect it, the more you can benefit from it.
You’ll be able to limit:
- Financial loss
- Brand damage
- Regulatory penalties
- Customer fallout
Signs Of Breach
Let’s take a look at what signals can help you see a threat.
Recent Virus
Have you recently downloaded some file and your antivirus started swearing at it? This may be the first sign that you may have a virus.
You may have picked up a common trojan. Usually they don’t do much damage, but if you’re unlucky, you already have a computer worm infection on your system. This program will start to get into all the places in your system, and access every device. And you may not notice it for a very long time.
So, if this happens, it is best to clean your computer completely or take it to a specialist.
Unusual Activity
One of the most common red flags that can indicate a data breach is suspicious system or account behavior. Especially if you do this from accounts with access to sensitive data.
If you suddenly see logging in after hours, messages about several failed logon attempts, or logging in from different geographical locations, you should immediately pay attention to it.
These signs may indicate that the account has been compromised. You can implement real-time alerts; multi-factor authentication (MFA) can help detect this early.
Slowdowns
If your network or system has become abruptly slow, it could mean an infection. You probably have malware or other processes running in the background that you didn’t start.
Yes, it could be a common system bug or a load from your programs. But it’s better to check it right away.
This could be a sign that data is being exfiltrated (transferred out) or that a (DoS) attack is underway.
Unauthorized Access
Another clear indicator that there is a virus on your device is strange movement/deletion/appearance of files. Especially files that require more serious permissions.
If you see dates of recent changes or users that don’t match regular activity, this could be it.
Audit logs and file integrity monitoring tools are very important here. If something doesn’t seem right, it probably is.
Complaints from Customers or Friends
If one of your friends or partners wrote to you and told you that there is country activity coming from your account, then most likely your account has been hacked.
It could be just strange messages that don’t look like you, or it could be phishing. In this way, criminals want to penetrate not only you, but also your friends to get more data.
They may also start asking your friends to borrow money. For this reason, your friends need to be attentive and write to you personally and ask if you really need money.
What to Do if You Suspect a Breach
Have you found something like this in yourselves? Don’t worry, if you act clearly and quickly, you can prevent severe damage.
The first thing to do is to isolate the affected systems immediately. Do not click on any links or other suspicious activity from your network. Then, alert your IT or security team and begin an incident response. If you are not an employee of the company, it is better to contact a specialist right away. There are many good contacts on the Internet who can help you with the virus.
Data leaks often happen quietly and unnoticed, rather than explosively and obviously. And being able to see such signs can help you keep your data safe and not take a big hit from attackers.
