Protect Yourself From Rising Cybercrime

The recent Verizon Data Breach Investigations report shows that global cybercrime is on the rise. While that may sound scary, we will share with you an easy way to build up your defense against it. 

The Verizon report, which gathers information on 5,358 breaches from around the world, highlights how the COVID-19 pandemic moved many business operations into the cloud and the remote work environment provided the ideal platform for cybercriminals to exploit.

Fortunately, this time around, cybercriminals did not utilize any new techniques. This means that to protect yourself and your employer, you will need to stick to the basics. 

Cybercrime Report Data

One of the main findings in the cybercrime report was 36% increase in phishing during breaches, compared to 25% last year. Hackers use this technique frequently through emails and text messages that contain fraudulent links to malicious attachments or cloned websites. If you open these links or attachments, the hackers can get access to your username and password, or gain access to company’s intellectual property. 

These data breaches cost consumers and businesses an average of $21,659, with 95% of incidents falling between $826 and $653,587.

Furthermore, credential data was stolen in 61% of breaches. 95% of organizations impacted by credential stuffing attacks experienced between 637 and 3.3 billion malicious login attempts last year.

Report also shows that people were 15 times more likely to fall victim to misrepresentation compared to the previous year. A common example of misrepresentation is when hacker pretends to be someone from the company and manages to lure people into giving him their credentials. 

These credentials are then used by hackers to access the organization’s private information while pretending to be someone who works there, according to Suzanne Widup who is a co-author of the Verizon Data Breach Investigations report, and a Senior Principal of Threat Intel for Verizon Business. 

Hackers can look like someone internal and may not set the alarm bells off. The fact that many people like to use the same username and password on different platforms sadly increases the hackers’ success rate. 

The report cites human negligence as the biggest threat to security. By tapping into human cognitive biases, hackers use misleading or irrelevant information in their attempt to sway peoples’ decisions. 

Defeating Cybercrime Starts With You

The good news is each of us is in charge of our own cybersecurity. So, how can you reduce your vulnerability to cybercrime? By changing how you approach passwords, keeping your browser updated, installing the right antivirus, and proactively monitoring your credit and bank accounts for unusual activity. 

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This article was originally published on Identity IQ website.

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