Cybercrime or cybercrime refers to criminal activities that target computers, computer networks or networked devices. In other words, basically all illegal activities relating to digital data or accounts. These take place online and are therefore only as secure as the user has set them up to be. Cybercrime can affect both private individuals and companies. The consequences can be serious in both cases.
The threat of cybercrime
When people hear the word hacker, they often imagine a lonely guy staring at a screen through unadorned glasses and typing code on a keyboard. However, the reality is far from that. Cybercrime is a professional business these days. It is now a service that is offered like a service. As regularly as new security methods are developed, they are also regularly breached. The password is the best example. Whereas a few years ago a somewhat inconsistent sequence of numbers was sufficient, today complex sequences of numbers and letters have to be used to offer real protection online. In a way, today’s digitalization is both a blessing and a curse. It makes many things easier for us. But it also makes us more vulnerable. A hacker attack can paralyze entire companies or institutions. The damage can be immense. And cyber criminals deliberately choose methods and victims that are related to each other.
This is how cyber criminals operate
Technological progress and social changes are constantly providing new approaches for launching attacks. Take, for example, the increasing emergence of hybrid working models. These offer new opportunities for cybercriminal attacks through new security loopholes. There is often less protection in the home office than in the company. Sometimes there is no protection at all. Employees are often not trained or even made aware of how important data protection is. What they neglect with their private data is also neglected with internal company data. Easy targets for cybercrime. The consequences of a simple hack can be serious. It is not uncommon for an attack on a company to directly affect the entire environment. Customers, suppliers, employees, external service providers – they are all represented with their data somewhere in the company data. A successful attack can therefore directly enable further attacks. This is the well-known phishing of data. What many people only know from the private sphere in the form of spam emails also occurs frequently in companies. You would think that this form of cybercrime would no longer be so successful, but the opposite is the case. In 2021, there was even a new record of successful phishing attacks on companies. A further development of this is vishing, in which the latest technologies such as AIs and deepfakes are used to deceive people in order to obtain data. The development and ingenuity of cyber attacks knows no bounds. This makes it all the more important to secure data and access well. For example, with 2-factor authentication using an authenticator such as the one from REINER SCT.
Conclusion
Cybercrime is on the rise and is becoming increasingly professional. You could almost call it organized crime. New technology and advanced methods make it difficult to guarantee constant IT security. This can only be achieved by securing data and access in multiple ways. Simple security methods can no longer protect against cyber attacks and the consequences can be devastating.
