The Risks of Cybercrime

Whenever you think of the darker side of society-better yet-if someone asked you to list all of the bad in this world-a multitude of things probably come to mind. You think of the horrors of society that you are used to seeing reported on the news: the serial killings, the thefts, and instances of grand theft auto, burglary, drug-related deaths- all elements of sensational news and all things that you would probably never wish to encounter personally. You might also include underground markets and escorts under the category of the darker half of society. Even with those aspects of criminal activity, the fear appeal isn't as poignant or palpable as it probably should be, and for good reason. We are conditioned to think that someone outside of ourselves is responsible for our security, that we dwell in a relatively safe country, governed by laws that are designed to punish evil and reward good. You probably were not mugged by someone on your leisure walk downtown to one of your favorite spots to eat. Your car more than likely was not broken into today. Chances are you were not pickpocketed or followed. We are trained and accustomed to believe that the world we live in is full of inherently good people, and so the notion of "it could never happen to me" is so strongly embedded into our minds that we often discount the seriousness of the threats to our security that are out there. It's not until disaster strikes and loss takes its toll that we become the spokesperson against the wrongdoings that constantly plague society.

Yet, there's a new, gloomier side to society that people will, 9 times out of 10, overlook-one that poses the same if not a greater level of threat to the things and the people we consider important to safe keep-cybercrime. The term in and of itself is not immediately intimidating, but that is at least part of the reason it costs an estimated $388 billion per year to reprimand. Again, this false concept of immunity-"it won't happen to me"-deters us from paying attention, and is continually reinforced mentally, simply because the days you go unscathed by this darker half of society grossly outnumber those that you do. Much like drug trafficking, cybercrime is nearly impossible to suppress, and while chances are that you'll go a life time without ever having your car stolen or being held at gun point, your computer and the network that you willingly surrender so much of your information and invest so much of your time and reliance on, is being attacked every second of every day, from countless directions. Unlike the physical crime we can identify with and understand, the risks of cybercrime are so abstract and farfetched to us.

Let's reexamine your typical day from a different perspective just to offer some food for thought, shall we? Here's what you missed: that leisure walk to the bar mentioned earlier? At least a fourth of the people in attendance to that bar paid with debit cards that contain information already belonging to a botnet of hacked individuals, and being circulated and sold to, what the cyber security community refers to as "mules," who transact with your hard-earned money. Sooner a later, they are going to experience the headache of financial fraud, and the perpetrator is probably going to be in a different country. Your friend, Bryan, always accompanies you to this spot. Let's say he has a phone with access to the Android platform, and his over-fascination with apps led him to unknowingly download a malicious form of mobile malware that's probably sending tons of hidden spam messages to everyone on his contact list as well as premium rate phone numbers, which should grant him a pleasant surprise on his next bill. Your babysitter, Amanda, is just a little too crazy with online shopping, which makes any system occupied by such a person vulnerable to countless risks of cybercrime. Unfortunately, your home desktop contains antivirus software as old as the computer itself. Amanda, an avid freeloader, managed to invite maybe 3 forms of malware that made it through the aged antivirus software and lodged itself firmly into your (what the technology experts would probably label) ancient desktop operating system within 2 hours of surfing the web. At some point that strain of malware is going to awakened with some malicious intent of executional code that will probably steal personal information stored on your browser because of your bad habit of reluctance to clear history.

Needless to say, cybercrime never sleeps. The risks of cybercrime and the possibilities for being victimized are endless. Cybercriminals are capable of doing things and stealing information in such a profound way that if you were aware of the potential of all known tactics, you would probably be hesitant to ever release any of your information onto anything digital. Sadly, so much of our lives are committed to the digital world, and the black hats know exactly where to prowl. There are no exceptions. Social media contains vulnerabilities, and we all know how big a part of our lives Facebook has captured. Nowadays, nothing has to look "spammy" to contain spam. Cybercriminals are capable of shutting down whole businesses in an instant. Hackers don't need to threaten you personally with weapons. They don't even need to be lurking near you to attack, or need much human intervention to do so. Norton recently reported that cybercrime has already surpassed the total of black-market marijuana sales, a subset of that darker half of society that immediately comes to mind. So if nothing else, at least personally reassess just how often you tell yourself that "it won't happen to me," because when it comes to cybercrime, those saying it can't be done are under cyberattack by someone doing "it" (the seemingly impossible) as they speak. Never underestimate the potential risks of cybercrime.

Fortunately, there are companies out there committed to thwarting some of the risks of cybercrime, like Guardian Network Solutions, a value added reseller of IT solutions for small businesses and home users. Sometimes, it just takes investment in simple, automated software or hardware solutions to prevent work stoppage attributable to cyber-attacks, and GNS is committed to providing the most affordable options tailored specifically for each aspect of IT security.

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Article Source: Trey_Alexander