Every year comes with new opportunities, but equally, new challenge. In this age and time we are living in, cyber-security has become a great concern globally, for private companies, government institutions, and even individuals. In a matter of seconds, you could lose a ton of data you have worked many years to gather. Worse, you could compromise the security of thousands of people, more so where the data lost has to do with customer information.
However, even with all the cyber-criminal threats all over, not everyone is as vigilant to protect their data by putting up security measures. While some are just arrogant and ignorant to take any action, some simply do not understand why cyber-security is essential. Here are a couple of reasons why everyone needs to take cyber-security seriously today:
Hackers are motivated by data
You may think that only business owners need to worry over the safety of their data, but that cannot be further from the truth. Everyone is a content generator in their own capacity. While some are busy running websites, others are collecting information from customers, while others are sharing posts on social media. This means that everyone is a target by hackers, for the mere reason that they generate data. Any piece of information is valuable to hackers because they can use it as leverage to get things done their way.
Technological advancements everywhere
Every day is a chance for the world to witness a new technological advancement that stands to make the world a better place. However, with every sophistication of technology comes a security gap that needs to be bridged. This is exactly what hackers and data thieves tap on. The Internet of Things (IoT) has put everything out in the open with several security gaps that cyber-criminals can manipulate to their advantage.
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Maladvertisement
Most people feel like they do not need to take cyber security seriously because they are cautious with their activities online. However, maladvertisement puts everyone at risk of data breaches and cyber-criminal activities. Hackers these days are very aggressive as to capitalize of legit ads and use them to place malware from which to attack users. If you are not careful, a legit site might get your device infected with a terrible malware and your data in the hands of cyber criminals.
To salvage reputation
Reputation goes a long way in establishing a credible brand. On the virtual platform, people trust others based on the reputation they have gathered online. The worst bit about the operating on the online space is that the internet never forgets. History has it how several people have suffered because of a previous occurrence that tainted their reputation online. In that case, if hackers were to get access to your data and use it to ruin your reputation, your survival in the real world would be strained, leave alone online. That said, it should scare you that someone can take away your credibility simply because you did not have a password to prevent hacking.
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It could cost you a lot of money
The cloud, along with other backup techniques give the impression that you should not care for any data that is lost. In a situation where your data is breached and you lose it, it would not be too much of a loss if you can recover it from your backups. However, data loss costs a lot of money. If you click here you will find that hackers today leverage information as their way to make money. It is no longer just about the joy of making other people suffer. For example, if they were to leak some of your high-confidential and classified information, you would do anything to recover it. At this, they make you pay up to recover your data.
