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Avast Blog_ViewPoints: Hackers set the pace in security
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Criminals get a head start, but we can chase them down with laws, industry tools, and consumer protection

In cybersecurity, the bad guys almost always have a head start on the good guys. There are several reasons for this, but basically security is fundamentally reactive, and there is asymmetry in the battle.

Firstly, security reacts to stop attacks and plug the gaps so they cannot reoccur. But security does not know how or where or with what the next attack will occur. Security companies are continuously trying to second-guess future attacks to make them harder for the criminals, but attacks are unknown quantities until they happen. By the time people, businesses and security firms have come to terms with one type of attack, the criminals have moved on to a new modus operandi.

Secondly, there is asymmetry between attackers and defenders. Every computer is faced with thousands of criminals and criminal groups, ranging from elite nation-state hackers to organized crime to wannabe hackers using crime-as-a-service hired tools. The defender must beat every one of the attackers, while only one attacker needs to beat the defender.

Attacker’s tools

There are three primary tools that assist the attacker: zero-day vulnerabilities, the dark web, and the optimism bias.

Zero-days: All software has bugs. Bugs often translate into vulnerabilities. A zero-day vulnerability is one that has been found but not yet patched (fixed) by the vendor.

Criminals find and exploit zero-day vulnerabilities. There is no defense against a zero-day attack beyond detecting the attack and mitigating it as quickly as possible after it has happened.

The dark web: The dark web is a criminal playground. It is called “dark” because it cannot be accessed via standard browsers, and therefore cannot be easily seen. It is augmented by end-to-end encrypted chats between criminals, and buyers and sellers of criminal cyber assets.

Criminals share and sell information on the dark web. This ranges from hacking tutorials to malware to access to systems. It includes millions of stolen user credentials (so it's worth checking to see if your own credentials are included).

The optimism bias: The optimism bias is thought to be a biological survival instinct. It’s what makes us believe that, although bad things happen, they won’t happen to us. In times of conflict, it enables individuals to become heroes against the odds. In times of peace, it leads to a false sense of security which, in turn, leads to laziness.

Although we know that there are thousands of hackers hacking into computers everywhere, every day, we don’t think they’ll target us. And even if they do, they won’t get in. The optimism bias leads us to believe we don’t need to take any special steps to protect ourselves – so we tend not to.
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