Introduction In today’s society technology isadvancing at a fast rate where almost everyone is able to connect with othersfrom across the globe in just a click of a button. Most important, documentsare in a “cloud” where you are able to access it easily on any device insteadof the old fashion piece of “paper”. But, most people stop to realize howunsecure their personal information is, the more advanced technology isbecoming the more unsecure your personal information. Now, there are multiplepeople who can have illegal access information and it’s happening every min.Technology has became a necessity to our daily lives making everything easierand faster to connect with others but there are a lot of dangers that come withit such as cyber-attacks. Cybercrimes are done by individuals whoare called “hackers”.
Hackers are individuals who seek computer system attacks.The hackers are able to see of any form of IT devices such as computers,phones, tablets and many other things as well. (Definition of Hacker) devices that are used to access and control your datafiles like vulnerability scanners, password cracking logging, etc.. Mosthackers do most of their work from the comfort of their home behind a computerscreen at any time they please. (Wikipedia) Hackers can happen when you least expectit, cyber-attacks are malicious acts usually originating from anonymous sourcesthat either steal, alter or destroy a specific data file in the computersystem.
(Definition of Cyber-attack)Everyone is effected by cyber-attacks allover the world because technology is advancing in today’s society.Definingthe Problem The main reasons why this problem won’tgo away is because the more advanced technology is becoming the easier we aremaking it for cyber-attackers (hackers) to access our data files. Many reasonswhy we are making things easier for cyber-attackers to break into our computersystems are because we are not persistent when it comes to knowing what, when,where, why, and how is our data being used, we are lacking in data protectionand use weak passwords. (Jim Ivers, 3 Critical Truths about Data Security, Techopedia)We are all irresponsible when it comes to the simple procedures used to keepour data protected, we should always know where we are sending our data files.Just in case if something was to go wrong with the data file we could be ableto know exactly where to find it and how to stop it immediately. Encryption of data will not be effectivealone, there needs to be persistency for data security. The act of sending out ourinformation is giving the receiver full control over it, when you send out anydata files to someone without protecting it you are basically giving them the permissionto alter anything on that document giving them part ownership of the document.Some people may even revise the document in a way to harm or threaten youbecause the document came from your IP address, misuse of technology.
Somepeople even stated that constant updates of software and programs cannot makeyou completely protected from hackers. “I believe software companies hirehackers to hack into computers so that you have to purchase Anti-Virusprotection from them. The hackers then use their knowledge to hack intocomputers and steal information …” (Mentor Interview, Margarita Beckford)Commoncyber-attacks happens unexpectedly and when it is not dealt with right away itcan cause a very big problem. Credit Cards fraud is a perfect example of howcarless we can be with our personal information. Now, most credit card users would not expecttheir personal information to be stolen from a common restaurant like JimmyJohn’s, a sandwich franchise. Thesandwich franchise both corporate and franchised locations were affected by adata breach in approximately 216 locations, the hacker was able to obtain 56million credit and debit cards. Other businesses were also attacked by thehackers such as Neiman Marcus and P.
F. Changs. (Kate Taylor, Another Hacker..
,Entrepreneur.com) Noindividual would expect their favorite restaurant to be a cause of their personalinformation being stolen. Being aware and constantly checking your bankstatements on your card decreases your chances of being affected by thecyber-attacks. Being persistent with who, what, when and where can make cybersecurity more effective and cyber-attacks preventable. Protecting your personal informationdecreases your chances of being a victim of a cyber-attack, and using passwordsis one of the many ways of keeping hackers out. When it comes down to creatinga password everyone likes to get creative and critical to ensure their accountand information is sealed from outsiders. But, hackers are still able to crackyour password being using multiple techniques and devices like using Bruteforce attack, password cracking, and Spoofing attack (Phishing).
Brute attackand password cracking are the common techniques used to crack a code byrecovering frequently used passwords from data that’s storage like a dictionaryattack in a computer system. Spoofing attack is a much faster process using aprogram, system or website to falsify data which is treated as a trusted systemto give the hacker full granted access to enter into your personal informationand accounts. (Hackers,Wikipedia.com) Solutions and Procedures It is almost impossible to avoid being avictim of cybercrimes completely because everyone is a user of some form oftechnology device and most of important information stored on some computersystem. Which makes hackers have multiple ways of accessing different informationfrom all over the world. There are ways to prevent and or decrease your chancesof becoming a victim, users must install and keep up-to-date antivirusprograms, firewalls and spyware checkers. Along with keeping them up to date,users must make sure that they run the scans regularly. **Persistent control addsa bonus to relocating data on any device, thus preventing any misuse, alsogiving you awareness the location of your data file if any cyber-attacks wereto occur.
Being persistent about the whereabouts of what, when, and where yourinformation is being used helps authorities to stop the attack before any realdamage is done. There are many companies out there thatprovide free software, but there are other you can purchase, along with that ofthe many produced by the leading companies providers; in addition, thosecompanies provide free version of their paid or subscription antivirussoftware. Encryption of information that you do not want anyone to haveunauthorized access to is a good way to avoid some cybercrimes; informationsuch as password and credit card information for example. Encryption softwareruns your data through encryption algorithms to make it unintelligible toanyone who tries to hack into your computer.Another good precautionis to be weary of who you divulge your personal information to. Try to avoidunknown websites, in particular those that ask for your name, mailing address,bank account number or social security number.
When doing online shopping makesure website is secure, look for urls that starts with “https”and/or have theTrustee or VeriSign seal. If you do not see these anywhere on the site, you runthe risk of submitting credit card information and other personal informationto a site that maybe a fraud.Conclusion In conclusion, cyber-crimes will alwaysbe a continuous crime that will be hard to stop completely but there are manyways to make sure you are not a victim of a cyber-attack and your personalinformation is protected. The everyday users and big companies need to beeducated on the new programs and software to help prevent and protect the datafiles storage. Being aware and persistent are the basic procedures.
Nevertheless,business should employ practices where their employees follow proper safetypractices to ensure that integrity and confidentially of stored information iskept at all times to combat cybercrimes. Safety practices like ensuring thatstaying off game sites on company time where viruses can be downloaded,forwarding chain emails, leaving workstation unattended or password sharingover virtual mediums should be prohibited. With all these safety practices enforced,it can be said that the safety of many users stored information of not becominga victim.
