A risky business

[This article is a follow on from Sandwiches, crumpets and cyber security]

Sorry everyone, that wasn’t a reference to the Tom Cruise film classic (look it up if this means nothing to you – you’ll thank me), but to something a little more sobering – cybercrime.

Because at the moment we’re all online a lot more – and in case it’d passed you by, the world isn’t the calmest place to be at the moment. So we’re all a little distracted, worried, tired, not quite with it.

All of these things combine to form the perfect storm for hackers, because they incite us to take actions that we would otherwise consider to be irrational or unwise.

As an example, a recent global cyberattack targeted people looking for visuals of the spread of COVID-19. How charming is that? Preying on people’s fear. But that’s what hackers do, sadly.

In that particular incident the malware was concealed in a map displaying coronavirus statistics – loaded from a legitimate online source. People were then asked to download what they thought was the map of COVID-19 cases they wanted. Instead it ran a malicious application that compromised the computer and allowed hackers to access all of its stored passwords.

I am not writing this to scare you, I am writing this because we can help. We can help if you’ve become the victim of cybercrime – but more importantly we can help you prevent it from happening in the first place. Simple changes in your online behaviour can help maintain higher levels of cybersecurity.

The first of these changes is to improve your cyber hygiene standards. You wouldn’t eat without washing your hands first (especially not at the moment), so apply the same standards to your online behaviour.

I’m not talking wiping down your keyboard and mouse with an alcohol-based cleaning solution – although maybe do that too – I’m talking check that you have a long, complex router password for your home wifi and that system firewalls are active on your router. Ensure you’re not reusing passwords across the web (a password manager is a great investment) and use a reliable VPN for internet access wherever possible.

Don’t know what a VPN is? Not a problem – we deal in this stuff every day and can be with you every step of the way.

If you are unsure about any of these steps, get in touch today – we are very happy to help. In the next blog in the cybersecurity series we’ll discuss further steps you can take to safeguard your online security.

Stay Safe.