Web surfers have fallen victim to cybercrime , including computer viruses, online credit card fraud and identity theft. A study examining the emotional impact of cyber-crime indicates that most victims become angered, annoyed as well as cheated and often blame themselves for being attacked. Stop blaming yourself and start finding out what you can do to prevent cyber attacks.
Start by reading this article about 3 Things Hackers Don’t Want You To Know About What Happens Online From Their Point Of View:
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Hackers send you VERY detailed emails with your personal information:
Spam emails used to be rather easy to distinguish from legitimate emails. In the early days of spam, it was a matter of looking for a few spelling mistakes or punctuation problems. However, hackers are starting make their work look like a real work of art.
Hackers are known for being able to locate your name, professional title and find other basic information about you.
TIP: Don’t open suspicious emails or attachments and don’t EVER give out personal information. If you are at work and get sent a suspicious email, forward it on to your IT team and get them to give it a squizz for you.
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Hackers sneak onto your sites while you surf “securely”:
Have you ever heard of a drive-by-download? If you break it down to basics imagine that you are on a website browsing an online store and it looks like a perfectly harmless website. However, in the background, hackers can be redirecting you to a series of other sites where you can then be attacked.
Often, the safe owner of the website is not even aware that there is this background threat taking place and that the site has been compromised.
TIP: The best way to avoid situations as such is to install all available updates to your browser as soon as the update is made available (the sooner the better) or, use a browser that automatically updates such as Firefox.
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Hackers love your Bluetooth headset, especially when you leave it on:
Bluetooth is back. We use it everyday for hands- free in our cars and even at gym for our weekly workouts. The problem is that we forget to switch it off.
Switching off your Bluetooth doesn’t just make your device battery last longer but it prevents hackers from accessing an extra pathway to commit cybercrime. Hackers can easily connect to your phone, manipulate as they please and continue to steal your data.
TIP: This one is easy, switch your Bluetooth off and only pair with devices you are familiar with.
Now that you are more aware of what cyber-criminals are getting up to, take advantage of the mentioned tips to secure your devices safety.
Watch this video of general cybercrime statistics to get more of a scope on the situation:
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