Cyber Attacks on Individuals
Individuals can be dramatically affected by cyber attacks and the resulting effect on their identity can be detrimental. Through cell phones and tablets, cybercriminals find it easier to access personal information. This information is collected, used, sold, or released depending on the information gathered. Celebrities and politicians are top targets for directed cyber attacks, but everyday people are also targeted. Most people have heard of celebrities’ nudes being released or politicians’ private affairs being published to discredit or embarrass them. However, everyday information is gathered from unsuspecting individuals, including bank account information, passwords, or additional personal information. Cyber attacks can occur in many ways, including[1]:
- Access your personal computers, mobile phones, gaming systems, and other internet- and Bluetooth-connected devices.
- Damaging your financial security, including identity theft.
- Blocking your access or deleting your personal information and accounts.
- Complicating your employment or business services.
- Impacting transportation and the power grid.
When a cyberattack happens, the cybercriminal could take out loans, incur credit, accumulate debt and then flee without a trace. Leaving the individual to rehabilitate their identity through years of work while dealing with bad credit and financial instability. While companies can insure themselves against cyber attacks, individuals are more open to direct impacts. To limit the risks of a cyber attack, individuals should[2]:
- Implement multi-factor authentication on your accounts and make it 99% less likely you’ll get hacked.
- Update your software. Turn on automatic updates.
- Think before you click. More than 90% of successful cyber-attacks start with a phishing email.
- Use strong passwords, and ideally, a password manager to generate and store unique passwords.
Grey Market Labs Engineer, Emily Kresho, advises that “the keys to avoiding a cyber attack are prevention and education. Individuals should take advantage of antivirus software, virtual private networks (VPNs), a device’s built-in privacy settings, and other prevention methods. It is also important to research common and current cyber attack methods so they are easier to identify. An article might point out a popular technique used by attackers, and the next day you might notice that technique in a suspicious email.” Vigilance is the form of defense against cyber attacks. Keeping an eye on your accounts to catch any unknown or suspicious activity can stop cyber attacks before they get full access to your information.
***The next article in The New Battlefront 101 series will discuss how propaganda is used in information warfare to shape opinions.
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Grey Market Labs® is a Certified B-Corp founded with the mission to protect life online. Our Replica™ platform orchestrates, automates, and secures Environments-as-a-Service, making organizations more protected with our patented privacy and Zero Trust architecture and more productive by increasing access to critical data, tools, and workflows simply, on-demand, anywhere. Replica™ support of dozens of use cases that span industries: from disrupting fraud on the dark web, to supporting military operations, combatting human trafficking, and enabling trusted data sharing in healthcare.
Grey Market Labs® is the first cybersecurity product company recognized as a Certified B-Corp organization.
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