The Importance of Cyber Security in Social Networks

Do you think technology is a curse upon mankind? Today, internet has touched every aspect of our life but trusting it blindly is not a wise thing to do   If you give it a more serious thought, most of our daily activities such as instant messages, sending emails, studying online, shopping, banking, etc. is done through internet. Due to these online activities cyber crimes are taking place every day and has increased the necessity to tighten security measures and protect every user using the internet with good intentions.  

The biggest nuisance and threat for innocent online users are the hackers and spammers. In today's globalization millions of people from different countries share their personal details on the internet through social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter,  etc. As people share their personal information online; often their accounts are compromised by criminals and there are several instances where heinous crimes such as rapes and murders also takes place.  There are hackers who extort money by tricking those using the internet into believing that they have won huge chunks of money. 

They will ask them for bank details or credit card pin numbers.  The main objectives of such hackers are to steal confidential information and make illegal monetary transactions. Cyber crimes are on the rise, and we have heard several big instances such as hackers hacked Equifax company, one of the largest credit bureaus and stole the personal information of 145 million people. It was among the worst cyber crimes of because of the amount of sensitive information compromised, including Social Security numbers. Again in November, Yahoo reported that 1 billion of its accounts were hacked. Another such cyber crime was 'WannaCry'.  It unleashed its fury in more than 150 countries.  Within moments it was unleashed on the internet, many companies such as FedEx and Amazon faced enormous losses. 

 The hackers behind WannaCry demanded money from users if they wanted to unlock their files. More than 300,000 machines were compromised across the globe that included healthcare and automotive. I have firsthand experienced these cyber crimes first hand.  Few years ago my father's software company named bulletink.com was hacked through a virus name PayDay, the purpose of this virus was to wipe off client data. His client sites were down for a week as he had to restore the data, it was loss of money and time!  There are many entrepreneurs that are forced out of business due to these cyber crimes even while taking utmost precautions. However, a buyer can prevent cyber crimes by taking the following precautionary measures:

1. upgrading the anti virus software promptly whenever there is an update and performs full system scan regularly so your computer stats virus free.
2. Make sure when you make payments online the website should display https in the browser, the 's' indicates that its a secure website.
3. All online transactions ask for usernames, passwords, and personal information so be sure to choose strong passwords.  Also, routinely change passwords.
4. Always keep your firewall turned on so hackers cannot steal confidential info from your computer.
5. Read the privacy policy of the company you are about to do business with.  There are numerous sites out there who have a policy of saving your info even after you have discontinued their service.
6. Check your financial statement regularly to prevent identity theft and credit card fraud.
7. Avoid advertisement that seems too good to be true such as 'you have won a lottery'.
8. Lastly turn off your computer when you are not using it.
9. Setup alerts on your smartphones.

 

After taking all the precautions above it doesn't necessarily mean we have successfully stopped cyber crimes completely.  Cyber crime is like a game of chase between police and robbers, in our case the between the innocent users and hackers, the chases will continue and it’s never going to end.  An upgraded version of this Chase game is Cyber Warfare which is a reality as United States and Russia and few other developed countries are already armed with virtual weapons, although some might suggest Cyber Warfare is a hype.  Cyber Warfare is a threat to mankind.  Nations will attack other nations thru computer networks that would disrupt their financial system and cripple them. 

Prashant Mali, a Cyber Lawyer and Security Expert says 'Cyber-warfare has already become a strategic warfare. All countries are getting ready with their Cyber command as 5th command after Air, Land, Navy and Space.'  Its an everyday news how Russia is meddling into American politics through Cyber warfare. People want to experience freedom and empowerment and not fear to use technology, while being protected against vicious cyber crimes.  Computer hackers are here to stay and always looking for more sophisticated ways of breaking the security systems.  There is no 100% security in today's globalization. So, don't expect an unauthorized user will not have access to your files. 

Cyber security has become an integral part of modern life, and modern institutions are necessary to safeguard those securities.  The International Cyber Stability Board should step up and vigorously lay down strict international internet stability and reduce security risk.  Furthermore, we should train more ethical hackers who are skilled with hacking techniques and who can quickly recognize and understand which attack tools are being used so we can anticipate next moves.  Also, we can setup a hacker’s blacklist and work with your internet service provider to block these attackers before they can damage our computers or financial institutions.

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