What is an Avalanche and How Can You Protect Yourself?

An avalanche in the technology world is something you do not want to come into contact with. Learn how you can protect yourself from cyber attacks with our latest post.

An avalanche, when used in the technology world, does not mean what you think it means. An avalanche actually refers to a large global network of hosting infrastructure that is used by cyber criminals. It is something that you do not want to be a victim of. Knowing more about that an avalanche does and how it can affect you can help you tremendously.

What an Avalanche Does

When cyber criminals come together to form an infrastructure to assist them in their schemes, you get an avalanche. The cyber criminals then turn around and use this network to conduct phishing scams and even distribute malware campaigns. Additionally, they can run money mule schemes through this network and essentially recruit people to commit fraud for them by transporting and laundering stole merchandise and dirty money for them. It allows them to not get their hands dirty and conduct a more secure scheme. Their ultimate goal is to gain money by being successful in these schemes. Because they have more information available to them through the network, it can also be much more difficult to stop them.

How You Can Protect Yourself from an Avalanche

While it may be more difficult to stop these kinds of attacks, there are some things you can do to better protect yourself. According to the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), you can use these methods to protect yourself online:

• Avoid clicking links in emails. Even if you think you recognize the email, you should go straight to the website instead of clicking any links that are sent to you. You never know when it could be a well designed phishing scam that looks just like a legitimate email.
• Change your passwords regularly. Whether or not you have recently been the victim of an attack or a potential attack, you should ensure that your passwords are changed regularly. Taking this action can help you better protect yourself if someone does track down your information.
• Get anti-virus software. If you do not already have anti-virus software downloaded on your devices, you need to invest in it. It can protect you from any known viruses out there. You should also get it updated every time it is available because the updates will include the most recent known viruses and you want to be protected from them.
• Use anti-malware tools. You should find a malware tool that will help to identify and remove any potential malware from your system. This can help eliminate infection before it has a chance to spread throughout your entire system.
• Update your operating system and application software. One of the biggest mistakes people make is not updating their operating system and application software once it becomes available. Cyber attackers prey on people who do not make these updates because there are vulnerabilities in the system that they can use to their advantage. Anytime there is a software patch update or a complete overhaul update, you need to take the time to update the system. you do not want to be one of the victims of an attack simply because you did not update your system when you were prompted to.

An avalanche may seem like a very scary reality but it is one you can protect yourself from. Contact OneSource Technology in Wichita by (316) 788-1372 or solutions@onesourcetechnology.com for more information on how you can protect yourself.