Every few months, it seems there is another huge cybercrime that takes down a slew of computers and the perpetrator then goes on to steal credit card information. How do we know that these attacks are rising in severity?
Well, first of all we have to take into consideration that cyber security is getting progressively more important. Online security has now become essential for conducting business online as well as for our personal use. So, here are the top 5 cybersecurity trends currently affecting our society:
Hackers are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Most malware used these days has at least a graphical user interface. They can easily be concealed on your system or they can be very difficult to locate.
There are new tools that are made to break through these security measures. When you think about it, one would think that computers these days are old enough to be unable to be hacked!
Cyber criminals and other online criminals have figured out a new way to make a lot of money. It’s known as malware. Malware makes its way onto your system when you download a program that may have been downloaded by a friend or you accidentally from a P2P site.
These programs then install a program that is programmed to run when you visit a particular website. Some of these sites may contain dangerous malware that can steal your information and send you tons of unwanted spam emails and pop up ads as well.
Hackers are also coming up with new ways to access our systems. The most common way that hackers gain access to systems is by installing Trojans or other malware onto them. Once the malware is in place, it can either upload personal information such as usernames and passwords to unauthorized websites, or it can be used to simply capture your information for its own use.
Some of this cyber crime can cause permanent damage to a victim’s credit card and bank accounts as well as their ability to conduct business online. Some cyber criminals will even use the stolen information to open up new accounts in your name, which means you’ll be dealing with this kind of cyber-crime repeatedly unless you take a very aggressive stance against it.
The rise in the number of spam emails that arrive in your mailbox every day is a major cyber security trend that should concern you. Most of these emails (which often contain malware) are phishing attempts. Phishing attacks are when an email that you didn’t expect arrives in your inbox and is trying to trick you into either giving out your financial or personal information. By being able to spot these phishing attacks early on, you can protect yourself and stop these attacks before they can do any harm to you.
Viruses are becoming more common too. As technology advances, they are becoming more sophisticated and harder to protect against. Many viruses are designed to delete files, remove software or even just crash a computer. Because of this, you will often find that viruses can easily infect a large system through the Internet which can result in widespread and even economical losses.
In addition, we are seeing malware attacking more commonly. Malware is programmed to specifically attack a system or program without permission. Some examples include key loggers, password stealing programs and DDoS attacks (dedicated server attacks).
Unlike viruses, malware will not wipe away files or delete them remotely like viruses. They will instead just compromise your computer and their code will allow them to steal your information.
It is likely that there will be many more top 5 cybersecurity trends for 2021. However, these are the top 5 that we have discussed in this article. If you would like to get a more detailed overview of the topic of cyber security, please visit the Security Ledger blog where you will find much more information.