In 2017, cybersecurity concerns dominated headlines. Between Equifax, Uber, and the SEC, virtually every aspect of the human experience was touched by cybersecurity and privacy concerns.
And, while major companies like Uber are the ones that tend to make headlines, the majority of cybercrime is directed at much smaller companies or even individual consumers. As a result, we must be increasingly diligent about learning about cybersecurity and protecting ourselves from attacks.
Read on to discover what you need to know about cybersecurity and how it impacts you, personally.
What is cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity deals with technologies, processes and practices that protect sensitive information from attacks, damage or unauthorized access. The first line of cybersecurity defense is a strong password to protect your most sensitive information.
How widespread is the problem?
It’s hard to get an accurate number on the number of cyberattacks that happen each day, as the minor cyber incidents continue to grow and are often unreported. Still, here are some striking figures that might put the severity of cybercrime into perspective.
- The FBI reported that since January 1, 2016, an average of 4,000 ransomware attacks occurs on a daily basis. Ransomware is only one type of cyber attack, it also happens to be the most expensive for victims.
- Cyber Security Ventures, a cybercrime research organization, predicts cybercrime damage costs to hit $6 trillion annually by 2021.
- High ranking organizations— such as the Pentagon and National Nuclear Security Administration— reports getting millions of cyberattack attempts every day.
Who are the victims?
It’s not just mega-corporations and high-profile organizations that are targeted. In fact, the largest demographic experiencing cybercrime are small to medium-sized businesses and individual consumers.
This segment makes for an easy target because they tend to spend less to protect infrastructure and pay less attention to detail when it comes to password creation. These three demographics often think that cyberattacks won’t get them. Until it does.
According to a report by Verizon:
- 61% of the data breach victims in this year’s report are businesses with under 1,000 employees.
- 81% of hacking-related breaches leveraged either stolen and/or weak passwords.
Always remember, if there is a vulnerability, it will be exploited.
What do thieves do with the information?
There are many things thieves can do once they have breached your internet accounts, password protected documents, secure servers, application software, or anything else that holds sensitive information.
Thieves can obtain financial, medical and personal information which can all be sold on the black market for a price. Attacks in of themselves are big business, especially ransomware.
According to the aforementioned Verizon study, in the 2016 ransomware was the 5th most common form of malware and the most common in the Crimeware pattern. Ransomware means an attacker will hold files on your computer for ransom. Once a user pays, usually anonymously via Bitcoin, the files are released. It is fast, low risk and easily monetizable.
What do you need to keep in mind?
Change your strategy. Don’t rely on practices that are already implemented, just because it’s the way you’ve always done things. Technology is fast-moving and hackers are always moving.
The safest way for you to protect your information is by using password manager like EZPD.
EZPD is a password generation and regeneration app that keeps users protected from the ever-evolving world of cybercrime. EZPD’s proprietary algorithm ensures that no one can hack your password.
With EZPD, users can generate complex passwords that include (or exclude) special characters and numbers and can be up to 256 characters long.
After you’ve created a unique, complex password, EZPD does not store your information unlike most password managers.
When you need to access your password again (or generate a new one) you can sign in to your account and regenerate the same password or generate a new one.
Businesses that don’t protect themselves with secure passwords have a lot to lose. Learn how EZPD can protect you.
And, for continued reading, learn how—with limited resources— small and medium-sized businesses of all types can protect themselves from cyber vulnerabilities.