When you think you are staying safe online, are you really exposed?
Almost all of us use electronic devices every day, from working on a computer to checking social media on a mobile phone. It's easy to be fooled into thinking we are staying safe online. Expecting what we're doing is entirely private, particularly if we're on our own at the time. We live in a connected digital world, though, and you may be more exposed than you think.
We are all inundated with information on a daily basis, and in this world of big data, details that you may assume are private could be being shared. If you are not sure what data is being shared, you can't be aware of all the risks you face. While much of this data sharing is benign and used to create targeted advertising, some of it could be malicious or criminal and designed to harm you and profit from your lack of knowledge.
Don't assume you are staying safe online
In real life, most of us have between five and ten friends who we know well enough to trust. In the world of social media, though, we may be connected to hundreds or even thousands of 'friends' - many of whom we have never met. Just because you are taking your own security seriously and staying safe online, your contacts may not be!
Every contact we have, every device and app we use is a potential security risk which could cost us thousands and have a negative impact on everything from our mental health to our relationships.
Who is responsible for you staying safe online?
Companies who market devices and apps are very aware of the problem, and have developed slick marketing messages to lull us into a false sense of security. They tell us how secure their devices and we believe we are fully protected without any further action on our part.
In reality, 90% of cybercrime happens because we make one small mistake and let the hackers in. This makes the security of your shiny new device worthless, as it cannot guard against user error. To avoid falling prey to the hackers we all need to be security aware - without becoming paranoid!
As homeowners we can all see the point of taking out home and contents insurance, as the cost of replacing our house or goods is high compared with the annual premium. The same should be true of online security, and we should be prepared to invest in keeping ourselves safe.
State-sponsored terrorism, malicious hackers and trusted companies are all part of the problem
Organised crime
Some of people work in banks or retail, others are teachers, gardeners or dogwalkers. Some people are professional cyber criminals. That's how they make their money, and they make their money from making you into a victim. They don't care about you as an individual and will ruin your life without a second thought if they can profit from your lack of security knowledge. In fact, cybercrime is now the most profitable business in the world! Criminals run it like any other business, working hard to stay on top of new developments and collaborating between themselves.
This makes staying safe online even harder for all of us.
Amateur hackers
This group of hackers very rarely have any malicious intend but will attack you 'just for fun'.
They are constantly developing malicious apps and loading them into the Google and Apple stores. Google and Apple find and remove them, but in the meantime would you know if you had downloaded one?
A New York Times data journalist recently read 150 privacy policies for major tech and media platforms as an experiment, and branded them 'an incomprehensive disaster', scientifically incomprehensible to the vast majority of people. In all likelihood, you have never tried to read the policies for every single app and device that you own but just clicked on 'I Accept' in order to carry on with what you were doing. This means you have no idea of what is happening to your personal data, what is being shared and who it is being shared with. Although companies may state very clearly in their terms and conditions that they do not sell data, what they don’t tell you is that they share it.
You may also not be aware that your personal details could be passed to third-party companies used for validating and aggregating data which is another weak point in the chain.
State sponsored terrorism
Microsoft's most recent annual Digital Defense Report published on 29 September 2020 reveals that State-sponsored attacks accounted for more than 13,000 incidents this year that resulted notification to customers. More than half of such attacks were related to Russia (52%), with Iran-linked attacks coming in second (25%), followed by China (12%). "This trend may suggest nation-state actors have been targeting those involved in public policy and geopolitics, especially those who might help shape official government policies," say Microsoft.
'Free' doesn't necessarily mean 'free'
Many of us have become used to downloading 'free apps' to use in our everyday lives. Someone has put time, money and effort into creating that app, though, so there's a price to be paid at some point - whether that price is financial or personal.
Many companies operate a freemium model, where they offer their basic services for free to encourage users to upgrade to paid premium solutions for additional benefits and features.
Personal data has now become the world’s most valuable currency, which is why organisations like Amazon and Apple are now the highest valued companies in the world. They collect so much data about people’s locations, travel, habits, and preferences that they can use it to provide a very personalised experience for their users.
Outdated software and devices
Did you know that half of the devices in the world are now obsolete? They may still be working perfectly well, but they cannot update to the latest operating system to keep themselves and their owners secure.
Last time you bought hardware or software, did you ask how long you could expect it to be supported for? Google's Chromebook computers do not allow the antivirus software to be updated after just three years. Equally, the lifecycle support on Apple products is shorter than some of its competitors as they live in a consumer world and want to encourage users to replace their devices as frequently as possible. Microsoft have the longest support lifecycle, typically lasting around 12 years. The reason is Microsoft are the choice of the business world who update less frequently than private users.
My personal worst-case scenario was voice recognition software Dragon NaturallySpeaking, which forced me into a software update when the version I had bought was retired after just nine months. They did give me a small discount on the new software.
The cost of cybercrime
As tech users, cybercrime is one of the biggest challenges that we will face in the next two decades. Cyberattacks are the fastest growing crime globally, and they are increasing in size, sophistication and cost to the victim.
Cybersecurity Ventures, the world's leading specialist publisher and researcher on cybercrime, predicts that damages will cost the world $6 trillion annually by 2021 – exponentially more than the damage inflicted from natural disasters in a year, and more profitable than the global trade of all major illegal drugs combined.
Microsoft's Digital Defense Report makes it clear that threats have rapidly increased in sophistication over the past year, employing new techniques that make them harder to spot and that menace even the savviest targets. Overall, Microsoft said it blocked more than 13 billion 'malicious and suspicious mails' in 2019. Over one billion of these came from new websites set up specifically for launching phishing attacks.
Myths about staying safe online
You may believe that hackers only go after corporate targets, and that as an individual you don't need to worry. The truth is that as an individual you could be at far greater risk as you're unlikely to have all the safeguards in place that a business has. Both Apple and Google are battling constantly to keep malicious applications out of their stores. By the time bad Apps are discovered and removed millions of people may already have downloaded them.
Projections based on insurance industry statistics calculate that 50% of businesses will be hacked in the next 12 months, but 77% of small to medium business owners believe their companies are safe from cyber security breaches. After a cyberattack a staggering 60% of companies go out of business within six months.
Don't be an easy target when it comes to staying safe online
The less you understand the process of staying safe online, the more easily you could fall victim and experience serious financial or emotional consequences. The vast majority of security breaches are caused by user error, so getting some expert advice could be the best investment you've ever made.