Technology has transformed the way the world that we know ticks – today, just about every common process, form of communication or other activity is reliant on it. The push toward complete efficiency that the technological revolution caused has been undeniable and it is yet to play out fully.
It is because that technology is so fundamental to our being and our existence that we must know how to use it – and safely. With its many benefits and countless possibilities, there are also people who use technology to take advantage of other people so it is imperative to know how to recognise potential cyber threats and steer well clear.
Limit Your Data Output
Once information is available on the internet, it is then there forever, untouchable. We would not want to share our darkest secrets with strangers on the street, so why share our most private data with strangers on the internet?
Cyber-attacks are often reliant on the attacker possessing a lot of your personal information, which they then use against you to complete the ‘attack’. By managing your data confidentiality in the first place, you drastically lower your vulnerability to an attack. One major channel with which you should take extra care is social media, where users often reveal very private things to a very public audience. ExpressVPN suggests that using multiple social media accounts with different levels of public exposure can greatly reduce the cyber risks you might face online – this way, you are in control of who you choose to expose your content to and can limit the private stuff to close friends and family only.
Identify Social Engineering Attacks
Social engineering refers to the psychological manipulation of another person through an online medium in an attempt to steal data or money – or both. One party deceives a cyber-attack victim into providing their confidential data by appearing as an entire organisation. They appear reputable by using publicly available data that they already have on the victim. They gain your trust with this data in order to trick you into providing confidential data from you as part of a financial scam. Criminals often carry out these attacks on both individuals and on entire businesses.
The most common form of social engineering is what is referred to as phishing – a process whereby an email is sent to potential victims under a false pretense in order to trick the user into the scam. This covers the questionable message requests and comment sections on social media, as well as the dodgy-looking emails you might have seen in your spam. Overall, it is infinitely better to not get caught up in a scam by knowing how to identify one, as explained in Cofense’s article on the subject.
For business owners, being aware of cyber-safety yourself is not enough; leaks can happen from anywhere on the corporate ladder, so it is crucial to educate your team on how to stay safe online. WorldAtlas reminds us what happens when we might not fail to do this or protect ourselves from an online attack. To stay alert of any stolen data or leaks, you can use effective dark web monitoring tools like those offered by DarkInvader.
We are so reliant on technology and the internet that it would seem silly not to use it, but that doesn’t mean that we should be careless. It is important to remember to stay safe online – history has never seen this kind of technology before and so the long-term consequences of online unsafety are yet to be experienced.
