Recent Posts

Categories

See all

Archives

See all

The Main Causes of Cybercrime and How to Stay Safe

Nowadays, cybercrime has become more common than ever, especially since more and more people are shifting to remote working. With millions of employees using personal and unprotected devices to work from home, hackers have countless opportunities for data exploitation. Cyberattacks are no longer a business-only threat. In fact, individual users and personal devices are now becoming a way more common target. Here are some of the main reasons behind this growing trend and how you can protect your data and devices.

Why Cybercrime Happens

The main reason behind frequent cyberattacks is the pursuit of profit. Hackers are seeking profit through data theft and exploitation, which has become easier to implement than ever before. Even if you believe that your data is not valuable to anyone but yourself, hackers will find a way to exploit it by selling it to third party advertisers or digging up your financial information to steal money directly from your bank accounts.

Another way hackers make a profit is through data theft and cybercrime is by the means of ransomware attacks. In this case, they get their hands on important corporate or personal files and then request a large ransom or fee from the victim. In some situations, cybercrime is used to crash servers, dig for corporate data, and thus gain a competitive advantage in certain markets.

Anything from poor data management, weak passwords, or unprotected networks can lead to serious security consequences. Whether you’re working remotely or you’re just worried about your personal files and information, you should take into consideration the following cybersecurity measures.

How to Stay Safe Online

Follow these three tips to maintain proper online security and reduce the risk of becoming the next cybercrime victim!

#1 Choose Secure Network Connections

Public and unprotected WiFi networks are one of the most common causes of cyberattacks. As soon as you connect a device to a public network, your data will travel through open servers that are more than easy to intercept. In other words, anyone with the right software could get their hands on your data while it is in transit. For that reason, stick to protected WiFi networks only and use a VPN if you absolutely must connect to any public networks.

#2 Ensure Proper Data Encryption

As we’ve just mentioned, it is important to encrypt your data and traffic, especially when using unprotected networks. The easiest way to do so is to download a VPN service and connect to a distant server to change your virtual location. The VPN will encrypt your data and replace your real IP address with a virtual one to keep you safe from potential security threats.

#3 Strengthen Your Passwords

Weak passwords can cost you a lot more than you would expect. In fact, it only takes one weak password for hackers to breach into your accounts and steal relevant data. The best way to strengthen your login credentials is to use a password manager to generate reliable passcodes in a secure location.

Overall, maintaining online security is not as difficult as it might seem. As soon as you turn the basic online safety measures into habits, it will only take you a few minutes a day to make sure all items on your security checklist are ticked off. Remember, it is always better to think ahead and prevent a security incident rather than deal with its consequences.


← Older Next →

Recent Posts

Categories

See all

Archives

See all