Tap and go, is becoming our latest mantra. Whether you're at a till in a shop, inside a cafe or perhaps in a taxi, all we all do nowadays is tap and go. What we should do not think about is when this little tap could lead to spending money on something we didn't buy, losing all our savings to cyber criminals or worse, becoming a victim of id theft. To date, the abuse of technology was limited to mainly monetary gains.
From national security to individual freedom, technology in the wrong hands is causing untold damage to our society. It is already robbing many of their savings and today threatening to steal our freedom.
The amount of money stolen by cyber criminals is staggering. To date, Americans have reported losing more than $469 million to pandemic-related fraud. In the U.K, businesses have lost over lb6.Two million to cyber scams over the past year – having a 31% increase in cases throughout the height from the pandemic.
In some European countries, cybercrime makes up about nearly half of crimes committed! COVID-19 has fanned the fire of cybercrimes by putting banks, fintechs and businesses around the world on a backfoot. Infact, 2022 set the all-time-high record for cybercrime, fraud, and Identity theft in the US as well as in Europe. No surprise 76 % of Europeans are increasingly concerned about cybercrime!
Businesses – large and small, and ordinary citizens – old and young, have become victims of cybercrime. In america, Colonial pipeline hit the headlines when it had turn off the entirety of its gasoline pipeline system in the 57-year history. Meanwhile, in Europe, some 800 Coop supermarket stores in Sweden were forced to close after point-of-sale tills and self-service checkouts eliminate. It was due to a continuing cyber-attack affecting organisations all over the world. The list goes on…
Cybercrime takes various forms. Hackers can steal your data, your identity to commit online fraud. You may wind up paying an invoice for something you never ordered. Everyday, thousands are bombarded by fake texts about online parcel deliveries “phishing” for bank details. Many lost their lifetime savings to those criminal operations. Fake emails demanding bank details for tax refunds have become de rigueur. Even Covid-19 jabs related messaging is being used for cleaning out victims' savings. “Authorised” fraud, where consumers are duped into transferring money to criminals, hit record levels in 2022, with lb479m lost by nearly 150,000 victims.
Cybersecurity has turned into a national priority today. For banks and fintechs – who rely on offering a safe haven for financial security for their customers – it is imperative they offer cyber security.
First and foremost, people have to become educated about cyber crimes and it is various forms. Governments will need to take charge here – like campaigns to chop obesity, they have to run campaigns to educate people about cybercrime.
The European Union has developed an extensive cybersecurity policy with a cybersecurity law made to enhance Europe’s cyber-resilience and a permanent EU Agency for cybersecurity.
Online fraud is really a new event for most of us and they are much more difficult to avoid, especially for those who are not yet fully accustomed to digital realm. How can we protect ourselves?
A few steps that people may take to avert being victims of cybercrimes include keeping personal and information secure on social networking. Cybercriminals frequently get your own information from a few data points, so the less information we share publicly, the greater it is for us. It is best to not share information like the name in our first school, pet or mother's maiden name. Changing privacy settings on our social networks, for example, by setting the profile as private, or restricting the information that individuals that you have not added as contacts can see, helps.
Personal information theft also occurs when someone obtains your personal data in a manner that involves fraud or deception, again, typically for economic gain. You might be tricked into giving personal information over the internet, or perhaps a cybercriminal might steal your post to access username and passwords mailed to you. This is exactly why it's important to guard your personal data. A VPN will also help to protect the information you signal and receive online, particularly when accessing the web on public Wi-Fi.
New technologies are always vulnerable. Biometric data stored with a service provider could be hacked. It is only as valuable a target for cybercriminals like a database containing usernames and passwords. A password you are able to change but a fingerprint is yours for a lifetime. Any security breach leading to leakage of this details are likely to cash more severe consequences compared to theft of the password.
Therefore, it's important that individuals are informed about the way biometric data is used and held, and under what circumstances it might be forwarded to other agencies. Also, fraxel treatments ought to be used as a secondary protection manner in which complements other safety measures instead of replaces them completely, for self-evident reasons.
I understand that fighting cybercrime is everyone's business. For most of us, which means carrying out a few simple, common-sense steps to help keep yourself and your loved ones safer.
But i am not saying that banks and governments should not be attributed for either misuse of power or perhaps a lack of investment in a robust home security system. In the UK, most banks now utilize a voluntary code to refund “no fault” victims of such crimes, but the quantity of victims who managed to get any money back could be as low as 30 percent in some banks! As technology moves and shifts, we too need to comprehend, adapt and ensure our safety.
It is inevitable that we will see more of Pegasus’ eroding our rely upon technology however i believe we'll also find our Bellerophons to combat the cyber criminals.