Cybercrime, or hacking, is on the rise and is expected to reach its height next year. How big of a threat is hacking to you personally, and what can you do to protect yourself against cybercrime?
It is impossible to foresee every security risk that you might encounter online. However, you can do quite a lot to avoid falling into traps set by hackers. Still, the threat of cybercrime operates on a much bigger level, causing national security breaches that have an effect on all of society.
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Unmasking a Hacker
Why do people hack? And how are they a threat to you? Hackers choose to commit cybercrime for various reasons. Of course, most hackers are trying to get access to your bank account, but not everyone on the internet is trying to steal from you. However, all are equally dangerous. Some people hack for political reasons, these are called hacktivists. These are mostly a threat to institutions and big corporations.
A National Security Risk
Cybersecurity is a problem that exists on a personal level as well as on a national level. Big institutions and businesses are constantly under threat of a cyber attack. To avoid this, a great effort is put into blocking attacks. Hackers are smart, and they are always looking to find a weak spot. Subsequently, companies have to be smarter, always updating their systems, making it impossible for hackers to complete their attacks.
In 2021 a series of cyberattacks struck private companies and federal company networks, causing economic damage. As a result, governments and companies are modernizing their cybersecurity defenses. In fact, Bank of America spends over 1 billion dollars a year on cybersecurity. According to the CEO, Brian Moynihan, when he started 11 years ago, the bank spent 400 million dollars a year on cybersecurity. Now, that number has increased drastically. This indicates how the threat of cyberhacking is increasing year by year, causing companies to rethink their defense systems.
A Personal Risk
Everyone in the world is connected on the internet, or the world wide web, as it was originally called. These connections allow us to communicate across vast distances. It is an amazing invention that has brought so much positive change into our society. However, the internet has also made you more vulnerable.
Your whole life is on the internet. Your personal information, your bank account, messages between you and your loved ones, you work online, you order food online, you watch movies online. You can conduct all of your activities with the click of a mouse. Each time you log in to your account, write a message on Facebook or watch a video on YouTube, you leave a digital trail that can be used by hackers to infiltrate your social media accounts, access your bank account, and even steal your identity. It is therefore very important that you take your personal cybersecurity very seriously. Unfortunately, most people don’t spend time making sure they are safe online.
Cover your Trails
Hackers often use personal information about you to conduct an attack. All of this information can be found online. To avoid falling into a trap, make sure you don’t reveal too much about yourself on the internet. On social media, people post all kinds of things about themselves without thinking about the consequences. For example, they post about their families, their pets, birthdays, favorite activities, hobbies, and so on. On the surface, it might seem innocent enough. After all, how can you put yourself at risk by posting a picture of your dog?
Posting personal information on the internet puts you at great risk. First of all, a hacker might use this information to trick you. They might call you, or send an email, using information about you to gain your trust. Secondly, if you have used personal information such as your name, birth date, or the name of your pet when creating your passwords, this makes it far easier for hackers to guess your passwords and infiltrate your accounts. Once they have access to one account, it becomes far easier for them to gain access to other, more important accounts. Every account you make should therefore have a unique and secure password.
Create Unique Passwords
Creating new and unique passwords for every account, you make online seems like an impossible task. This is why most people use personal information about themselves. It is easy for them to remember, and it doesn’t take a long time for them to create. However, this simply isn’t good enough. Luckily, there are ways to get around this problem. At https://passwordhero.com/ you can find help creating unique passwords that are random and therefore impossible to guess. There is no reason to make it easy for hackers. Give them a challenge they won’t be able to overcome.
It is important you use this technique for all of your accounts. As already mentioned, if a hacker gains access to one of your accounts, it will be easier for them to access other accounts. You should therefore change all of your social media accounts, even though you may not think it is that important.
How to Keep Track of your Passwords
If you are worried about keeping track of all your unique and random passwords, don’t worry. Your internet browser can remember them all for you. Of course, it is very important that you never do this when logging in to your accounts using other computers, whether it is a computer belonging to a friend or a public computer. Only do this when using your own computer. If you don’t like this approach, you can choose to write your passwords down on a piece of paper. Hackers may be smart, but they still haven’t found a way to magically remove items from your home. Just make sure you keep your password information somewhere safe. Visit our News section to read more about cybersecurity.
