As we live in the digital world and can access things on the tip of our fingers, we also leave traces behind on the internet. Every time we post a photo, someone can track it through the location. Every time we like a post, someone can piece together a pattern. As the digital age progresses, the cons or negatives of the digital world seem to surface. The biggest downside of advanced digitalization is hackers, malware, and data theft.
Data theft is when someone breaches your data and personal information such as photos, finances, emails, or work secrets and steals them. Individually, it can lead to a huge loss. However, for organizations, the situation becomes more complex as their data may be worth millions of dollars. Malware is malicious software that has many types, and what it can do is either corrupt your data or freeze it. It can cause all your data to wipe away.
Can you imagine all your life’s work just being wiped away with a swipe of a button?
A specific type of malware is ransomware. This is when the hacker freezes your data or your assets until a ransom is paid to them. In this instance, you will need to contact cybersecurity services who will then carry out processes such as ransomware removal and ransomware recovery.
As we move forward in the digital era, these happenings are becoming more and more frequent. Hackers today have become smarter and more innovative. They develop better and stronger malware and ransomware to take control of your data. Data theft, too, has become very common on leading social media platforms. Most social websites can easily be hacked into, and your personal information can easily be shared with the hacker. In terms of organizations, hackers can hold all their data and information for ransom in just a click of a button.
Why Is It So Common?
These practices are becoming more and more common because we seem to be leaving behind traces of our data and do not secure our digital universe properly. When we post on social media about the perfect life and how much we have and enjoy, people may get vindictive and jealous. This leads to hackers finding out data through password crackers and other means of data theft, ransomware, or malware.
In this scenario, social and psychological factors also contribute to the issue of malware and data theft. The youth these days are well versed about computers and coding, and many of them develop an interest in such things. However, when they are not offered jobs that pay well and are paid below minimum wage, they tend to find short cuts of making money. In this time where inflation is at its highest, people need to make ends meet, hence resorting to crimes such as these where they need to steal from people. Also, the youth is now desensitized to such issues and in some way have started to adapt around them, so it doesn’t seem like a big crime to them. The main factor, however, is that as technology has progressed, cloaking themselves has become easier. Their chances of getting caught are becoming thin, so they find this the best means of achieving their goals.
