Cybersecurity Threats In Asset Tracking And Strategies To Mitigate

by

20 November 2024

Security

Cybersecurity Threats

The security implications of an expanding sprawl of devices, software, SaaS applications, users, and cloud services are important. 

However, poor cybersecurity creates a critical risk for the overall business. Chief among them is a higher risk of business disruptions. 

A breach might make essential data or systems unavailable, preventing the business from functioning. Therefore, the rate of change makes the manual work of managing, finding, and securing all these assets not tedious but error-prone and wasteful of valuable resources. 

To mitigate cybersecurity threats, business firms must adopt strategies to resolve the breach issue. 

This article will emphasize cybersecurity threats faced in asset tracking and strategies that will help resolve the issues. 

Common Cybersecurity Threats In Asset Tracking

Common Cybersecurity Threats In Asset Tracking

Below-mentioned are common cybersecurity threats in asset tracking. 

1. CEO Fraud 

CEO fraud and business email compromise (BEC) pose significant challenges to asset tracking for business owners. 

Therefore, this type of cyberattack can lead to financial losses and disruption of operations. Similarly, it occurs when an attacker impersonates a high-ranking executive, typically through email, to trick employees into transferring money or confidential information. 

Furthermore, asset tracking could mean convincing your business to approve a large purchase. It might also be a transfer that diverts funds intended for legitimate tracking systems or physical assets. 

This threat might cause your business to lose money. This can result in inventory discrepancies, misallocation of resources, and difficulties in auditing.

2. Ransomware

Ransomware significantly threatens asset tracking systems, impacting businesses across various industries. These systems often rely on connected devices and networks to monitor and manage assets, making them prone to cyberattacks.

Sensitive asset information, such as ownership, location, and financial details, can be compromised. If cybercriminals steal this data alongside encryption, they may leverage it for further extortion or sell it on the dark web.

So, when a ransomware attack occurs, a malicious breach can encrypt critical data related to asset tracking.

This can lead to:

  • Disruptions in operations.
  • Loss of visibility over inventory.
  • Need to work on managing assets effectively. 

However, you may find your business still looking for items. This often leads to delays in production or logistics, which can ultimately affect the firm’s goodwill. 

3. Payment Fraud 

Payment fraud poses a significant threat to asset tracking systems, as it can undermine the precision and reliability of financial transfers related to asset management. 

Fraudulent activities, such as chargebacks or using stolen payment information, can lead to financial losses and disruption in inventory control. 

So, when payments are initiated deceptively, assets may be acquired without legal transactions, complicating the tracking of ownership and inventory levels. 

Furthermore, asset tracking systems rely on data integrity to function effectively. If fraud is present, it can lead to discrepancies in reported data, making it challenging to assess the actual status of assets.

4. Data Breaches 

Due to its cloud-based nature, Access Control as a Service (ACaaS) can indeed experience data breaches. 

When access control systems are hosted in the cloud, they may face various security challenges, such as:

  • Unauthorized access.
  • Data interception.
  • Potential misconfigurations. 

One of the primary risks is the reliance on internet connectivity, which can expose sensitive data to interception during transmission. 

Moreover, user authentication is important. Weak passwords or insufficient multifactor authentication can allow unauthorized users to gain access to the system. 

Compliance and ensuring that data is handled according to regulations also pose risks, especially if the service provider stores data across different regions.

5. Automated Methods 

Criminals often leverage automated methods to launch large-scale attacks on various businesses, using customized malware to ruin specific susceptibilities. 

Similarly, this approach will permit the ransoms to efficiently target multiple systems simultaneously. It will further increase your business’s chance of success while reducing the time and effort required for each attack.

On the other hand, automated tools also enable attackers to refine their techniques continuously based on real-time feedback. 

This is because as the tools gather data from previous attacks, they can adjust their malware to improve its effectiveness against specific targets. It is even more challenging for organizations to defend against such threats. 

Strategies To Mitigate Cybersecurity Risk

Mitigate Cybersecurity Risk

Below-mentioned are strategies to resolve cybersecurity risks faced within the business. 

1. Conduct Risk Assessment 

Perform a cybersecurity risk assessment to identify the issues your business faces or might face in the coming years. 

Similarly, the risk assessment results will anticipate your organization’s readiness to respond to security events and uncover your infrastructure’s vulnerabilities to common attacks, such as malware, ransomware, brute-force attacks, and more. 

Install asset tracking software in your business to conduct risk assessments efficiently. This will help you track location, save fleet costs, and improve asset management. 

In addition, you can also include the following steps:

  • List down all physical and digital assets and their potential threats.
  • Create a risk register listing risks and mitigate steps. 
  • Analyze each threat’s likelihood and impact on the organization. 

2. Continuous Monitoring 

When prioritizing vulnerabilities based on the challenges to business assets, it is essential to evaluate both the likelihood of exploitation and the potential impact on the organization. 

Here is a structured approach to help with this task:

  • Identify assets. 
  • Determine potential impacts.
  • Analyze the likelihood of each vulnerability being exploited. 
  • Use a risk scoring system to combine impact and probability into a single score.
  • For high-priority vulnerabilities, devise appropriate remediation plans. 

3. Include Asset Lifecycle Management

To successfully manage each asset throughout its lifecycle, it is vital to incorporate a structured approach that includes the following critical practices:

  • Maintain an up-to-date inventory of all assets, including hardware, software, and licenses. 
  • Establish a schedule for routine updates to ensure that all assets are running the latest software versions. 
  • Implement a patch management strategy to check for and apply security patches regularly.
  • Use monitoring tools to track asset performance and health. 

By incorporating these practices, you can ensure that each asset is effectively managed, enhancing security, performance, and longevity throughout its lifecycle.

Wrapping Up 

Thus, asset-tracking software can be implemented within the business for multiple uses. The business needs to identify, address, and assess the security risk posed by devices and assets of all types. 

However, it is best to create essential security awareness for the staff to assist them in spotting warning signs and trigger alerts. 

The systematic monitoring of security log files can give the security team early warnings of possible attacks. 

Read Also:

A passionate writer and an avid reader, Soumava is academically inclined and loves writing on topics requiring deep research. Having 3+ years of experience, Soumava also loves writing blogs in other domains, including digital marketing, business, technology, travel, and sports.

View all posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related

Become a Hacker

How to Become a Hacker: X Steps to Follow

A hacker is a professional who focuses on the security mechanism of your network systems and computers. Therefore, don’t think of hackers as unethical people who break into the security system of your phone or computer to steal your valuable information. It is only that some people use their expertise in the wrong ways. Here are some 12 steps on how to become a hacker. 1. Learn UNIX-Like Operating Systems UNIX-like and UNIX are the operating systems of the internet. You can use the internet without knowing UNIX but you can never become a hacker without having the UNIX knowledge. There are several forms of UNIX-like OS but the most popular one is Linux. You can run Linux hand in hand with MS Windows on your machine. You need to download Linux and install it on your computer. The other UNIX-like OS is BSD systems that comprise of DragonFly BSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, and FreeBSD. You have to understand the difference between BSD and Linux. Even though we have other solutions like Open Indiana, it is good to rely on Linux, BSD, and MacOS because they are more popular and have several programs for your use. 2. Write HTML You have to build your proficiency in HTML especially if you are not a programming professional. HTML is used to code everything that you see on any website such as the design components, images, and pictures.  You start by learning how to make a basic homepage and grow from there. You can open the source information in your browser to see the examples of HTML. You can either write basic HTML in simple text or processing programs like Notepad. 3. Learn the Programming Language   If your goal is to become a hacker, you need to learn programming languages to write your masterpiece. The best language to start with is python because it is well documented, has a clean design, and relatively kind for beginners. Apart from being an excellent language for starters, python is flexible, compelling, and suites large projects well. Once you get into serious programming, you will have to learn Java, JavaScript, and PHP C, and C++. These programming languages will give you the right background that will help you to develop hacking skills. 4. Think Creatively Once you have the basic skills, you need to start thinking artistically. A hacker is like an engineer, philosopher, and artist all rolled up into one person. These professionals believe in mutual responsibility and freedom. The world has so many fascinating problems that are waiting for answers. Hackers delight in solving these problems, exciting their intelligence, and sharpening skills. Hackers have a broad range of intellectual and cultural interests outside hacking. Play as intensely as you work and work as intensely as you play. For most hackers, the boundaries between art and science or work and play tend to merge or disappear into a high level of creative playfulness. You can enroll in martial art training if you want to learn how to become a hacker. 5. Learn to Appreciate Solving Problems  Hackers believe that it is a moral responsibility to solve problems. Once you solve a particular problem, put is in the public domain so that you can assist other people to solve the same issue. However, you will not be giving away all your creative product. You will begin to command a lot of respect when you share the knowledge that you have accumulated over time. 6. Learn Recognizing and Fighting Authority The main enemies od hackers are drudgery, boredom, and authority figures who use secrecy and censorship to stifle the freedom of information. Monotonous works discourage the hacker from hacking. You can embrace hacking as a way of life by rejecting the ‘normal’ concepts of property and work. Instead, choose to fight for common knowledge and equality. 7. Be Competent Any person who spends a lot of time on Reddit is able to write up a ridiculous cyberpunk username and pose to be a hacker. However, the internet is an excellent equalizer that values competence over posture and ego. Spend a lot of time to work on your craft and not the mage and you will gain a lot of respect quickly instead of modeling yourself around the superficial things that people think around hacking in the popular culture. 8. Write Open-Source Software Take time and write programs that other hackers believe are useful and fun. Give your fellow hackers the sources of these programs for their use. Hackers respect individuals who have written capable programs and share with their colleagues for use. 9. Help in Testing and Debugging Open-Source Software Reputable open-source authors know that good beta-testers are worth their weight in dollars. These beta-testers know how to localize problems well, describe symbols, can tolerate bugs in quickie releases, and are more than willing to apply few simple diagnostic routines. Try to get a challenge that is under development that you have interest in and strive to become a good beta-tester. 10. Publish Useful Information You also need to gather and filter interesting and useful information into documents or web pages like FAQs lists and avail them. The respect that those who maintain FAQs have is equal to that of open-source authors. 11. Assist in Keeping the Infrastructure Working It is volunteers who operate the hacking culture and the internet’s engineering development. You need to do a lot of unglamorous but necessary tasks to keep everything running. It includes the administration of mailing lists, moderating of newsgroups, maintenance of huge software archives, and the development of RFCs among the other technical standards. You will command a lot of respect by doing all these things with a high level of dedication. 12. Serve the Hacking Culture Itself You will not be able to do this exercise until you have been around for some time. The hacking culture does not have leaders to say but it has tribal elders, culture heroes, spokespeople, and historians. After being in the trenches for a long period, you can develop into one of these.  Hackers don’t trust the blatant ego among their tribal elders and hence attaining such fame visibly is dangerous. Instead of striving for it, it is wise to position yourself so that it drops in your lap so that you can be gracious and modest regarding your status. Read Also:  How Dangerous Is Ransomware Anyway? Why DRM Is The New Standard For Document Security How To Improve Workplace Security

READ MOREDetails
Industrial Safety

Maintaining Productivity: The Basics of Industrial Safety

Health and safety in the workplace should always be a topic that is high on your agenda if you are working in any sort of industrial environment, and if you can achieve a good safety record it should also contribute to greater productivity too. Here is an overview of what sort of typical safety hazards you need to guard against and what steps to take to avoid an accident, plus a look at some of the main basic safety measures you should adopt in order to keep the production line rolling and workers as safe as possible. Understanding the hazards: A good starting point would be to make a checklist of the main hazards you are likely to have to deal with in your workplace, as a working knowledge of these dangers will help you to take counteractive measures. You can categorize industrial hazards under a number of broad headings. Physical threats to the safety of workers are a key issue and there are numerous challenges to account for in your safety procedures, such as slip and trip hazards, inadequate lighting, the risk of exposure to noise and poor air quality, plus the danger of fire, amongst others. You can take steps to manage these specific threats, such as maintaining good air quality throughout the building, for example, which you can read about on this page. Other key hazard categories include biological and chemical threats, injuries sustained through poor ergonomics and building design, and even the mental health aspect of working in a challenging or hazardous situation on a regular basis. A good suggestion would be to conduct a thorough health and safety review where you take a detailed look at the layout of your building and what specific dangers workers face every time they clock on. Make a comprehensive checklist of all the potential hazards that are relevant to your particular industry and then look to create a health and safety plan that deals with those issues in the best way possible. Dealing with fire risk: The risk of fire is a constant potential threat to every building and that risk is enhanced when you have machinery, chemicals, and other potentially hazardous sources all under the one roof. There are many different ways for a fire to start and electrical faults, chemical spillages, and a lack of safety awareness amongst workers, can all create a fire risk in an instant. You can’t always avoid a fire starting when an accident occurs through an unforeseen set of circumstances, but you can at least have a robust set of fire safety procedures in place to help deal with the situation and limit the potential damage. A good quality fire alarm warning system needs to be installed and regularly tested and maintained, and a sprinkler system might also be necessary, once you have carried out a fire risk assessment. Fire extinguishers installed at regular intervals around the building will allow immediate action to be taken to try and reduce the spread of fire and hi-spec smoke detectors provide a decent early warning of a fire or smoke hazard. Emergency lighting: All workers need to be fully briefed on what to do in the event of an emergency and how to evacuate the building in the quickest and safest way possible. One of the threats to a successful and safe evacuation of the building is when power in the building is lost and it becomes dangerous to walk around in the dark. Power cuts are always a possibility in an industrial setting for a number of plausible reasons and a lack of adequate lighting greatly heightens the prospect of an accident happening. The way to counteract this threat is to install emergency lighting that lights up the building to make it safer to see where you are going and minimize the risk of an accident. Falls are a leading cause of accidents and deaths: One of the main causes of death and injury in the workplace falls, and it should be noted that a worker doesn’t have to fall from a great height to suffer a bad or fatal injury. Nearly half of all fatal falls in an industrial setting occurred when the person fell from a height of fewer than 20 feet. More than 10% of recorded fatal falls were from a height below six feet. Some industries have a higher incidence of falls than others, and it should not be a surprise to learn that the construction sector is considered one of the most hazardous workplace environments for falls. It is reasonable to surmise that a very high percentage of these recorded fatalities and injuries could have been prevented with adequate risk assessment procedures in place and with the right use of safety equipment and adequate training. Large numbers of workers are treated for fall-related injuries each year but with the right precautionary measures and by raising awareness of the potential dangers, many of these accidents could have been avoided. Know your limits: Pushing your body to its limit and beyond is another leading cause of accidents in the workplace and overexertion is cited as the cause of about a third of all work-related accidents according to the National Safety Council. Every worker should be encouraged to assess and know their limitations before undertaking a task that might lead to an injury through overexertion. Ergonomic injuries are when you do something like tear a tendon, damage your spine, or overreach when attempting to lift an object that is too heavy, or is not being lifted and handled correctly. Every worker needs to have health and safety training that highlights and talks about the dangers of ergonomic injuries and provides guidance on how to work safely and know your physical limitations. It is not just physical jobs that create injuries and office workers can also suffer injuries if they don’t set up their work environment in an ergonomically efficient way and don’t take regular breaks away from their desk. These are some of the main causes of accidents but with some basic safety training and an ongoing risk assessment program, it is possible to significantly reduce the prospect of an accident happening in your workplace. Read Also: How To Improve Workplace Security

READ MOREDetails
Locksmith

How To Find A Locksmith To Trust With Your Home Security, Locks & Keys

Professionally skilled personnel exclusively in terms of lock and key repair is known as a locksmith, who might also work as a forensic locksmith and can unbolt locked or jammed car doors, or can program it to the car’s mainframe computer to gain access. They have the potentiality to perceive, execute, troubleshoot and maintain pre define key systems and also both mechanical locking and electronic smart cards. The locksmiths support in making key duplication, lock installation, key extraction and also ensure proper care in the maintenance of equipment. So, for seeking professional assistance from certified locksmiths, you can check out https://ilocksecurity.com.au/ Points on how to avoid fraudulent Locksmiths so that they can’t barge into homes or cars in any near: 1. Research before Hiring a Locksmith: Searching in advance with the help of the Internet even before calling up a particular locksmith company is even more convenient, isn’t it? The Internet serves you with a plethora of options to choose in between locksmiths’ firms, so it is better to consult with some professionals. Finding out the registration and local address is easier on the Internet than getting spammed by some local fake companies. 2. Ask for Identification: When Locksmiths reach their destination, they must produce authenticate identification cards and licenses. Most countries consider practicing the work of locksmith or running a locksmith agency firm without a proper license as a crime. 3. Locksmiths Must Show up in Unmarked Cars: Originals locksmith business firms will recruit their technicians with marked vehicles with company logos, contact numbers and brand-name on it.  Customers must not let locksmiths work if they fail to present in such manner, as they are majorly inexperienced, poorly equipped, and workers with no license who might damage the locks. 4. Inquire about Cost Estimate and Additional Charges: Before agreeing to perform the work, customers must demand a written statement of the charges, which includes the emergency service charges if any. No additional charges are imposed should be checked. Scammers might create a hoax by claiming the locks should be replaced as they are obsolete. 5. Beware of Locksmiths who talk about Price before the Work Starts: They ask for cash even before starting to perform their work. They will never let transactions happen through credit cards as that will make it easy to trace them; they will urge you to pay in cash and debit cards. 6. Locksmiths who answer the Phone without mentioning the Company name are suspicious: By implementing the usage of erroneous business names, addresses, unregistered locksmith firms can fool their consumers. Be sure that while calling a company, they pick up the call with a proper business name rather than merely saying “locksmith services”, these are often fraudulent or unregistered services. 7. Locksmiths who want to Drill your Lock: There have been cases in which locks were drilled as they couldn’t be unlocked because those locks were mostly high-security locks. So, when a locksmith forces a lock to be replaced and drilled by a few minutes’ investigations, he may be a fraudulent locksmith. In most cases, high-skilled workers carry tools to unlock any kind of door. Drilling locks would end up claiming huge bucks from your wallet, and instead, they would fit some low-quality locks. Conclusion: This article highlights the various tips to survive from the market of corruption as locksmith scamming has become a huge growing trend in today’s scenario. Besides the above-stated suggestion, always keep in mind, that, never leave any stranger locksmiths alone to work. Hopefully, this article was helpful enough to make you aware of the precautions to be taken before hiring a locksmith. Read Also: 5 Tips To Safeguard Your Home From Intruders Top 10 Effective Tips To Keep Your Home Safe Dutch Locksmithing Company Reveals How To Get Best Prices

READ MOREDetails