What Is Targeted Attack?

You're probably thinking, "What's a targeted attack?"Well, it's like a targeted marketing campaign. Do you know those little ads that pop up on your screen when you're trying to look at pictures of kittens? Yeah, those are targeted. If you've ever been on the receiving end of one of these campaigns, you'll understand why they can be so effective when you see an ad for something perfect for your needs. A targeted attack works: It finds information about its target (like what you're doing online) and then uses it to find a way into your system or software to extract data from it or disrupt its operations. What's the difference between a targeted attack and a random attack? Well, if you're a rival company, it's everything. In a targeted attack, your rival firm will infiltrate your systems, steal your data, and then use it. It's the best way to get into someone else's head and the worst way to get into an argument. A targeted attack might also infect your machine with malware or destroy a specific data type on your device, like all those pictures you took with your friends last weekend! The critical difference between a targeted attack and other types of malware is that the attackers are looking for something specific on the system they're targeting with a targeted attack. They're not just going around infecting every computer they can find with ransomware: where they are looking for something specific, like an email server or even just one user's inbox and exploiting it to get what they want. To launch a targeted attack on a bank, you must understand its security architecture and loopholes. Once an attack is successful, the attacker/hacker/cracker can be stopped routine banking operations, illegally transfer funds, and extract customer financial information.