Protecting data is one of the fundamental rules adopted by business owners as well as the everyday technology user out there. Data is information that serves some sort of purpose to the owner, whether it’s a lengthy term paper written by a hopeful university graduate or a KYC file acquired for a company’s records, this sensitive material may be susceptible to theft and fraud.
We’ve all heard of ‘hackers’ and know that their end goal in cracking your computer is to access your information and claim it as their own. The reasons why hackers strive to steal your data is all fueled by motives that gain them access to further, more sensitive data that you may not even know they’re after. Here are some of the motives why hackers want your data:
Data Ransom
Holding data for ransom is not just the storyline for an epic thriller, it can be a real life situation if you’re not careful. Ransomware attacks occur by gaining unauthorized access to personal data, encrypting the information or even moving it to a secure location where access of files may be impossible unless the ransom is settled.
With ransomware attacks rising on the daily, restricted access controls need to be at the top of their game while frequent back-ups can salvage any corrupted data that you may be held accountable for. Having your data backed up means that the hacker’s ransom can be totally ignored.
Identity Theft
Data Breaches are designed to gain access to and steal personal information. Gaining access to certain information may lead hackers to a treasure trove of priceless information that can turn your life upside down! Possibly even going to the extreme of identity theft.
Hackers seek false identities to conduct fraudulent behaviour online so protecting yourself from this is vital for your online and potentially social reputation. So make sure to secure every device, account and cloud with strong passwords.
Stealing Infrastructure
Hackers can also act as parasites who use your servers or storage systems as a host for their own data to avoid paying the costs themselves. One way to mitigate this huge risk is to keep your host infrastructures hush, hush. Don’t let the public know what sort of setup you are sporting as this might be a hacker’s ticket into your space.
Knowledge is power and hackers looking for an easy way out of paying for something may use your infrastructure as a free ride.
Now that you know what hackers could potentially be after, here are a few ways they get their hands on your data:
Automated attacks
Diving deep into a hacker attack is not brought about by luck, quite the contrary in fact. Automated attacks are programmed by sophisticated hardware and software, that with the elite force of 1000+ monster computers find a way to gain access to your data.
Once you are the targetted victim a number of activities take place on your device…
Total control
Once hackers gain access, hackers filter through your data and find exactly what they are looking for. At this stage, a hacker may claim your files, delete valuable information such as tax records, yearly financial records or precious photos that you treasure.
A hacker can access you from anywhere in the globe and once in their reach, hackers can even download more viruses onto your device.
Thorough search
Hackers will only gain access to the information you ‘allow’ them to – of course, you don’t allow them access to anything but since hacker behaviour is unpredictable, don’t give them access to everything.
If you have excel files reminding you of your passwords, card details or anything of the sort you could be putting yourself at even greater risk.
Password theft
Credentials don’t really give hackers access but passwords sure do! With a username and password at the ready, hackers will hijack your computer, account or any other information storage point in the blink of an eye.
Digital impersonation comes about when hackers gain complete control of your online presence – this could be damaging and should be avoided at all costs.
Program access
In the same way you and your friends have things in common, hackers and their friends have one very crucial thing in common – they are fellow hackers and will work in sequence to hit you where it hurts.
Sharing is caring and if something comes your way free of charge you’re even happier to share. Hackers share the path to your information with their hacker friends, amplifying the problem by the second.
Avoiding hackers requires some work, some concepts that you may think to adopt after reading this blog include securing your home network especially if WiFi is your main form of connection, refraining from opening suspicious emails, using a VPN when connecting to an open network, making sure you’re using legitimate websites and keeping your antivirus solutions up-to-date.
If you’re looking to beef up your online security options get in contact with us.