Cyber Crimes are common nowadays and someone is getting scammed online, offline, and intentionally as well. Millions of dollars were poured into security by companies and billions of dollars were reported in loss due to improper security. The masses do not bother to take proper measures to improve cyber security because there is an assumption that they do not have value in the market.
Did you know?
Infographic by EveryCloud
Privacy invaders and hackers target small businesses because they have very little knowledge in this space. The founders of the small business are carefree because they assume nobody will target them.
1. Social Media Platform
Social media is a powerful tool to generate leads, connections, and closing sales. I have closed many sales via the Facebook platform, but I never maintained a personal connection on FB.
Why?
The recent intentional breach called “Cambridge Analytica” compromised millions of accounts’ personal information. It could lead to several adversities such as unknown people targeting Biased, Racial, and Spread wrong information to your feed.
Do not share personal information on social media platforms such as pictures of family members, friends, and relatives. Never reveal (tagging) your current location and information about your whereabouts online. Maintain a discreet profile online and never upload pictures of a family member because it is an excellent source to find your Income, Weaknesses, and Timings of your schedule.
2. Passwords
Many of my friends are on the social media platform and I found several mistakes in their accounts. The passwords are a common problem among my social media accounts. Remember, privacy invaders can find out the email address easily via services, but they have a separate tool for finding a password. These so-called password crackers try billions of combinations to find out the current password of the account.
Always set different combination passwords such as “Passwords#123*Tito” and make it harder for a combination tool to identify. Creating, a random difficult password increases the difficulty for tools and the so-called tools made from leaked passwords. In short, the combinations should not match PAST and PRESENT trends, so invent something new.
Millions of people do not hold on FB only, they are available on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and more. Unfortunately, 50% or more users use the same passwords, and it is not acceptable. 6 million Instagram accounts were hacked and if you are using an Instagram password on FB, then account compromise is possible. Use different unrelated password combinations on different social media sites such as FB, VK, Twitter, and more.
3. Connected Apps & Services
Millions of websites collect personal data from social media sites and it is the root cause for problems. I landed on a webpage and signed up for an account that had information about Name, Address, Phone Number, and others. In a few days, I started to get many emails, SMS, and phone calls related to fraud.
I received a call from a reputed shopping site customer care and they claimed that I won an expensive car. The representative had personal information about online shopping details, but I clearly denied the prize money.
At the end of the call, the scammer ended up coughing up the fraud by calling me bad names in frustration. The online reputed shopping site information slipped into the hands of fraudsters and it can happen in many ways.
A few weeks ago, a bank employee ended up at my house door at 7 AM in the morning demanding advance for an upcoming loan payment. Of course, we did not pay advance to the bank employee considering it a potential scam.
Unfortunately, the information regarding Loan details, Online shopping details, Bank details, registered phone numbers, and other information landed in the hands of fraudsters. Do not share personal information with others and the root cause of it comes from an insider.
Always contact BANK customer care or contact official authorities physically before handing funds to a random person. Do not use “Log-in with Facebook” or “Sign-up with Google” no matter how reputed the site you are accessing.
4. Security Programs & Firewall
Computer consumers depend a lot on Windows Firewall and security programs that charge $100 per license for a year.
Windows Firewall: They cannot protect the consumers 100%.
Windows Defender: Basic protection only and it cannot detect or remove the advanced threat.
Security Programs (EX: Kaspersky): Nope, they cannot protect all threats until or unless they are detected. Some of the paid securities programs cannot even provide a detect number of threats online.
HTTPS (SSL Certificate): There is a guarantee of privacy invasion, even if you are on an HTTPS connection.
There is a popular saying “Defense is my strongest offense.”
A consumer or customer can keep an eye on the effective security product using AV-Comparatives.
Bottom Line
Millions of gullible BANK customers are being duped and companies are receiving fines for naive behavior. Privacy invaders and hackers gain a lot of knowledge of the product or service, and then they target someone who lacks knowledge of it. Do not give them the option to dupe you, so never provide passwords, or OTP, and maintain a low profile online to keep ill-hearted people away from you.
