Cyber espionage, or cyber spying, has become a viable method for different entities all over the internet to collect information from any individual or organization. Despite security measures being in place, this has become a worldwide phenomenon, that no one can stop. Today, we take a look at what cyber espionage is, and how to protect yourself against cyber espionage attacks in a potentially risky world.

What Is Cyber Espionage?

Also known as cyber spying, cyber espionage is a form of cyber attack that is used to steal sensitive and confidential information from different sources that are owned by either a person, an organization, or even the government.

Cyber espionage is used to gather pieces of information for 3 main reasons:

• Competitive Advantage
• Economic Gain
• Political Reasons

The Sinister Incentive Behind Cyber Espionage

Cybercrime is one of the major offenses in the modern world. Neither the goal nor the consequences of cyberspying should be taken lightly. The possible gains for the perpetrators of cyber espionage are potentially endless.

The sectors from which information can be stolen and exploited include:

• Financial information from individuals
• Strategic information from corporate sectors
• Diplomatic confidential data from governments

Attackers from all over the world are always looking for a proper scope to exploit these data types for either financial, political, or strategic gain. Cyber attackers are constantly launching attacks on different infrastructures to scrape every bit of information they can.

These attackers have influenced many international social events, wreaked havoc on global affairs, and altered the course of many events just through misinformation.

Cyber espionage is a force hiding in the dark depths of the internet, constantly moving on from one resource to another, just to get their hands on every bit of confidential assets that might give them an advantage.

The fact that it’s nearly impossible to detect, and can cause changes on a global scale is what makes cyber espionage the most dreadful and criminal act of all.

Forms of Cyber-Espionage Attack

Cyber espionage is not just about a targeted attack on a system that targets information. Many other forms of cyber espionage can also work in favor of the entities involved in launching the attack. Let’s take a look at a list of the primary ones, before diving into details.

• Catfishing
• Insider Threat
• SS7 Systems
• Social Engineering
• Spear Phishing
• Supply Chain Attacks
• Trojan Apps
• Watering Hole Attack
• Zero-Day Exploit

Catfishing

Catfishing is when one person pretends to be someone else entirely to extract information from an individual or an organization. It’s similar to identity theft since the attacker is using the identity of another person without their knowledge or consent.

Often, a catfish takes it one step further and creates a fake identity entirely from scratch, which is an age-old tactic in the world of espionage. Then the persona is used to interact with and extract information from the target.

With social media, this has become an even more common phenomenon. Some threat actors on social media create a fake persona and then build a virtual relationship with their target for months.

The range of the pretense can be extensive, but the most common choice of identity is usually an attractive member of the opposite sex.

Insider Threat

In the world of cyber espionage, insider threats are a nightmare scenario. There are times when highly trusted individuals in an organization containing sensitive information go rogue.

Once rogue, they hand the confidential information to the other party, giving the opposition an upper hand in strategic terms. This method of sabotaging one’s team by exposing private information and launching an attack is known as an insider attack.

When a single individual gets access to a wide range of sensitive information regarding an organization, that individual going rogue can put the entire organization at great risk. The effects of this attack can get even more severe due to multiple factors, such as

• Poor Access Control
• Lack Of Proper Monitoring
• Organizational Apathy Towards Information Security

An insider attack doesn’t always have to be intentional as well. Sometimes, a careless employee can unwittingly give away access to insider information to a malicious third party.

The Signaling System 7 (SS7) protocol Attack

The Signaling System 7 (SS7) protocol is the current world’s telecommunications system, which gets used by both intelligence agencies and mobile operators. The surveillance system can be considered a double-edged sword.

Though this system is the backbone of telecommunications over the entire world, it can work as an effective weapon of cyber espionage if the control falls into the wrong hands.

Any perpetrator can track, read, and listen to every text or voice message that passes through the SS7 systems, exposing personal information that can be exploited for nefarious purposes.

Social Engineering

The severity of a social engineering attack can be potentially even worse than an insider attack since social engineering relies on increasingly sophisticated psychological manipulation.

Through social engineering, criminals don’t have to exploit the security loopholes present in a device. Instead, they exploit the human mindset of a certain part of society. Sometimes, this attack can be as widespread as an entire nation as well.

What makes social engineering even more terrifying is the fact that the strategy or the damage of the attack goes unnoticed until it's too late.

Social engineering is the go-to method for attackers due to its level of anonymity and sophisticated methods, which increase the chance of success for any kind of attack.

Spear-Phishing

Spear-phishing is the darker version of email outreach. Generally, businesses conduct email outreach to increase and improve their relationships with one or several clients. 

In the case of spear phishing, one or several targets receive a series of emails that look forward to exploiting the target in any way possible.

Attackers that are using spear phishing as a method, take a long time to compile focused research data on all the potential targets before initiating the attack.

Emails are still a huge part of corporate functionalities, which makes emails look unsuspecting if written right. That is what makes spear phishing a lethal method in terms of corporate-oriented cyber espionage.

Supply Chain Attacks

In a world where supply chains are more mainstream than ever, supply chain attacks can not only ruin the business but also interrupt the daily lives of many who receive the services from said supply chains.

In the case of a supply chain attack, there are several ways an attacker can take down a certain supplier, or even go as far as taking down the supplier of the target organization.

The most common way of carrying out this attack is when a hacker plants malicious codes in the supply chain system that are already being used by the target.

This type of subtle attack is so effective that it can successfully invade the most advanced cyber defense systems, and is often untraceable.

Trojan Apps

This is one of the more old-fashioned tactics, that has become popular in modern infrastructure. A trojan app attack is when a virus is disguised as a desirable program, app, or piece of code, and sneaks into the system of a target.

For a trojan app attack, the attacker creates a fake app or program for the unsuspecting public to download. Trojan apps are commonly paired up with social engineering campaigns that convince people to download the app.

Once the app is installed in the system, the attacker can trespass on the device, going as far as taking full control of the systems of the victims.

There is a lot of rogue software in third-party app stores that can infect an individual’s phone. In the case of computers, there are pirated versions of various software that carry trojan threats, among other harmful malware.

Watering Hole Attack

A watering hole attack is a clever cyberattack that targets specific groups of people.

“Watering hole attack” is a hunting term. Instead of tracking their prey over a long distance, some hunters would just determine where the prey is more likely to go, most commonly to a body of water, or a “watering hole,"  and then wait there. When the prey comes to the watering hole, the hunter attacks.

Just like that, cybercriminals compromise websites that the targeted group often visits. When the targeted people visit these compromised sites, their devices get infected with harmful software or get redirected to hacker-controlled spoofing websites.

This way, the attackers steal sensitive information like passwords or personal details, which they later use for identity theft or other harmful activities.

Zero-Day Exploit

No software or digital product is perfect on the day of launch. Hackers look to exploit the product or software when they are in the most vulnerable state, which is the launch day. This attack is known as a zero-day exploit.

The zero-day exploit can cause serious damage to the product launch since the solution for these exploits is not even available to the engineers or developers of the product or system.

Prevention Against Cyber Espionage

Even though cyber attackers have figured out the ways and means to break into all the systems that are out there today, defending against cyber espionage is not an entirely lost cause.

Here are 5 practical tips to prevent a cyber attack on your information

Configure The System Firewall Accordingly

Configure all the firewalls on the systems to set a parameter for normal behavior and set alarms accordingly for abnormal behaviors.

Most of the time, a cyber espionage attack can be prevented simply by configuring the firewall the right way.

Configure firewalls and alerts to recognize normal behavior within the organization and to generate alerts for unexpected or abnormal behavior. As an example, most email leaks caused by malware can be prevented with minimal configuration of the firewall.

Promote BYOD Within Your Organization

BYOD (Bring Your Device) is a great way to reduce data leakage risks. When everyone has their own devices where proper management software is installed, all devices can be monitored accordingly.

You can also use a device control mechanism to restrict Universal Serial Bus (USB) devices to prevent data from being passed onto a removable device.

Another easy way is to encrypt data. Without a decryption key, the encrypted data is safe even when it’s leaked.

Review Data Access Policy

All sorts of data access should be thoroughly monitored to ensure that only authorized personnel have access to the data they need to work on. Data is easily accessible to everyone by default, and making access more strict can be a big help.

Another way to organize the data access properly is to review, reorganize, and rewrite the organization’s data policy accordingly to ensure that all the necessary data is in the right hands. This can also go a long way in preventing an unwanted attack.

Secure Critical Infrastructure

When securing the network infrastructure, it’s a good practice to separate networks that deal with intellectual property or corporate information.

Once you separate the networks, ensure that only the right people have access to the right networks. You can also enforce rules by updating the necessary permissions.

Don't Let Cyberspies Steal Your Secrets

Cyber espionage poses an ever-present threat in today's digital world. Criminal hackers, rival companies, and even foreign governments are continuously deploying deceptive tactics to pilfer your valuable data. From Trojan apps infiltrating your organization's devices to sophisticated social engineering exploiting human psychology, the methods cyberspies use to steal your sensitive information and trade secrets are many and constantly evolving.

But you don't have to be an easy target. By understanding the espionage techniques outlined here and implementing robust cybersecurity measures, you can protect your organization's critical assets. Proactive steps like controlling access, encrypting data, securing networks, and training personnel are crucial defensive layers.

However, staying ahead of persistent cyberspies requires constant vigilance and expertise. That's how TechForing can help. Our team of cybersecurity experts specializes in identifying vulnerabilities, implementing tailored security solutions, and providing rapid incident response, so you can operate confidently without fear of cyber espionage threats snooping into your organization.

Don't let criminal hackers, corporate rivals, or foreign adversaries make off with your business's private information and intellectual property. Contact TechForing today to fortify your defenses against the shadowy world of cyberspies. Protect what's yours with proven cybersecurity prowess.