Over the last decade the popularity on the online world has continued to grow immensely. Reports in 2017 highlighted this and showed that over 54%of the world population now have regular internet access. As a result of this, criminals have been increasingly targeting their victims online.
What are the numbers?
As previously mentioned cybercrime is on the rise, but by how much?
In 2010 over 3.8 million records had been breached by cyber criminals. 6 years later and the figure was sitting at over 3.1 billion cyber breaches. With the levels of cybercrime rapidly increasing, often organisations are failing to keep themselves protected and up to date on the latest trends.
The predictions for cybercrime over the next few years are worrying; in fact, terrifying for some. Experts believe that by 2019, a business will fall victim to a cyber attack every 14 seconds! The more success cyber criminals have, the more likely we are to see continued growth in this horrific spate of crime.
Cyber Criminals use many methods to access your computer systems and steal personal information. However, there are three common trends which have risen in popularity in recent times.
The clue is in the name for this form of cyberattack. Hackers breach computer systems’ security systems and then log the users out of their own PC. As the name suggest, the perpetrator then demands a ransom fee from the victim in order to return their data unharmed.
Unfortunately, this has become an extremely common theme and variants of this form of attack seem to be appearing regularly.
WannaCry, Sam Sam and Keypass are just a few which have been apparent in recent times.
Phishing is simply a fraudulent email or pop up which is used to entice unsuspecting internet users into giving away personal information. This could be in the form of passwords or credit card numbers. Phishing emails tend to be very persuasive with language which would make you believe that the sender is contacting you from a genuine company. Installing a good spam filter and being particularly vigilant is a simple way to help protect yourself/ your company against phishing attempts.
Perhaps one of the most well-known form of attacks to those without a background in Internet security would be the concern regarding spyware. Spyware is simply when a piece of software is installed on a computer with the permission of the owner. The unwanted software usually comes from an email attachment or a file downloaded from the internet and can be used by hackers to ‘spy’ on the victim; tracking keystrokes and even sensitive information.
It is easy enough to not be aware that spyware is present on your computer, so it is worth educating yourself further on the matter.
What is the fix for Cybersecurity issues?
In an ideal world there would be a few simple steps which could be taken in order to completely eradicate the chance of being attacked by cybercriminals. Unfortunately, it is not as simply as that. There are however a few things you can do for both yourself and your business in order to reduce the chances of a cyber breach; and reduce any lasting effects of a cyber-attack.
First make sure your staff are aware of simple protocols relating to cyber security. Emails shouldn’t be opened from unknown sources and complicated passwords should be used for all accounts. Second of all make sure you and your staff are keeping up to date on the latest industry news. Self-education on cyber risks and how attacks can happen is one of the most effective ways to ensure your company is protected online. Finally, consider getting a Cyber Insurance product for your company act as the final line of defence against cyber criminals. CyberBee act as a suitable example of a company who offer cyber insurance for smaller companies in order tohelp keep them protected online.
Make sure you and your business are up to defending against the threats posed by cyber criminals!