As crime becomes more professional and lucrative for the criminal community, data owners need to review the way they store and secure their personal and corporate data. Markets exist online for the sale of personal and corporate data and the consequences for businesses that have their databases stolen are often critical.
Despite the professional way criminals attack the private and corporate user, there are simple measures you can take to make the job of the cybercriminal harder.
Updating operating systems blocks some of the holes through which the cybercriminal can easily enter your computer. Having a strict procedure of updating application programs, such as Microsoft suites or Adobe products, also helps to reduce the chances of a technological attack against your computer.
Another simple protection measure is to restrict the programs you run on your computer, phone, tablet, etc., to those you have researched for their legitimacy and integrity. Because an app is convenient, it does not mean it should be anywhere near your electronic devices, as criminals have learnt malicious apps are a great way to infect mobile devices.
Keeping your antivirus programs updated and running regular scans will help to discover and quarantine any malicious software that has entered onto your computer, particularly by email. The criminal community has identified email as a simple and effective method of delivering malicious software, such as computer viruses, onto target computers from where they may work to gain access to valuable data such as documents, contacts, banking details, etc. By not opening attachments or links in emails from people you don’t know or have suspicions about, you can help to reduce the likelihood of your computer being compromised.
By Guest author Graeme Edwards, Cyber Consultancies Pty Ltd
graemee@cyberconsultancies.com.au