For a long time, offices and workplaces have vehemently opposed technology. Employees are on social media all the time. Productivity was down. Tardiness was up because people were not sleeping because they were online all night. This was an evil thing. Not anymore. There is something far worse. Modern technology was created by good people who had good intentions who wanted the world to be a better place for everyone.
However, good intentions are always opposed by malicious plans. These people only want the world to fall into chaos and disorder. They don’t necessarily want money or fame, they have some weird principles that don’t really apply to the normal society. Even the term “hack” literally means to chop into pieces, hence, “hack”-ers.
Most people don’t really care much about what’s going on in the online world or even less about IoT (internet of things). If they only knew how disastrous today’s society would become if it weren’t for cyber-security experts, they would be more appreciative. Nevertheless, it is not a bad thing to learn a little bit more about the world.wide.web every day. You never know, it could save your life. Let’s use some medical terms to associate the degree of danger and here we go.
1. Skin Deep
This is just the hackers being annoying and bothersome. This is not dangerous, yet. These skin deep hackers basically are testing your online presence. They want to know how often you are on the internet, they want to see the strength of your operating system’s security, they are basically testing the waters to see if they can dive deeper.
An example would be you’re having a lazy day just browsing the sports pages when suddenly you click something that opens an ad about antivirus in another tab. Naturally, you click the tab and before you know it, five more tabs open with topics you didn’t even know existed. Unwanted browser websites that open spontaneously is one good indication that you are being “tested.” Another indication is if weird random messages just suddenly appear on the screen as you’re reading the daily news. Be very careful.
2. Invasive
The next level is teetering between annoyance and downright scary. When you get a notification that someone liked your Facebook post, and it was a post that you didn’t do, that should be a red flag. Or how about a tweet that contains lewd and dirty contents that you didn’t upload, that is a genuine hint of a little more than skin deep intrusion.
The easiest ones that they can hack are your social media accounts. This already requires vast knowledge of online coding and programming. Compared to the skin deep hackers who are seemingly just testing their newfound abilities, level 2 are far more experienced and knowledgeable. Plus you actually don’t know their intentions. They could be an admirer that doesn’t have the courage to talk to you face-to-face but could shut down your computer from another country. Sounds impossible? Not anymore.
3. Lethal
Segue to our next group of villains. These are the most dangerous ones. Not only are they informed and experienced, they most probably have evil plans for the world. And no, I’m most assuredly not exaggerating. If you have ever checked your wifi network at home and saw an unidentified device connected, that is one sign of ill-disposed intent.
If they wanted to, they can access your personal information on any account that you may have on the web. This is one of the reasons why some people don’t even have an email. They are very protective of their privacy, and rightfully so. Your credit card information is not safe, bank accounts can be compromised with a couple of clicks; basically, they can do severe damage to any online presence you may have.
Now, don’t let this discourage you from using the internet. Even though there are people who want to harm you, intentionally or not, there are also security measures that you can install to deter these awful things to happen. This is one main reason for antivirus software, anti-malware programs, and for bigger companies, dedicated security IT departments.
Cybercrimes are here and they won’t go away. Now that you have an idea on how you might be a victim, get researching and immediately (as in right now) establish preventive measures. Maybe you won’t ever need them. But in these situations, you’ll be glad that you did. Always be watchful.
