Cybercrime: Dealing With the Growing Threat to Our Digital Lives
hive-168869·@olujay·
0.000 HBDCybercrime: Dealing With the Growing Threat to Our Digital Lives
<div class="text-justify"> The digital world we have now has become an essential part of our lives. It keeps advancing, and, day by day, our dependence on it increases. But with this increasing dependence comes the growing threat of cybercrime.  In one way or another, especially if one is a regular user of the internet, we encounter, at least, potentially threatening situations on a daily basis. Whether it is a suspicious email, a fake website, phishing links, or scam calls, cybercriminals are always looking for ways to exploit vulnerabilities and gain access to sensitive information. One has to be really careful about where they tread and where they release information, because releasing information to the wrong hands could very well mean the risk of a big loss or a fraudulent use of their identity.  For some reason, however, some people see this idea of cybercrime as a business. At the rate at which people, especially youths, go into it, one would think it's some smart job when really it is outright wickedness. Over here, we call cybercrime "Yahoo." It does sound absurd, but that's how it has been termed unofficially, and I think it's due to the backstory of a time when computers and emails were just rising. So, people fortunate to use computers started out committing frauds using emails, and Yahoo was the service used then. And so, therefore, innocent Yahoo became an evil term. In these times, people rush into it in order to make quick money. But it makes me wonder how people are comfortable with the idea of putting another person in a lot of trouble just to add to their pockets. Some may want to justify themselves by blaming their environment for providing them with unfortunate lives, but there is no way that works. And usually, it starts with companies people keep.  There have been certain people I have met in my life who got caught up in these cybercrimes. It starts with a friend of theirs telling them about some link they could tie some account to, and then they share it in certain communities, like Telegram, and within a few hours or days, some money would be flowing in, depending on how well built the link is. Basically, it is a phishing link, and sometimes it is a fake webpage. And from there, they get glued. One of my first experiences with them was when I almost let out my debit card details. It was quite gullible of me to almost become a victim. A call came in on a Sunday morning many years ago, and the caller posed to be from a bank and stated that I have issues with my account and they need to block it to protect me from any harm. He got my attention that way, and the next thing he said was that, to be able to "protect me," I needed to provide my card details to proceed. My ignorant self almost fell for that just when another person, listening to my responses and putting the pieces together, immediately alerted me that it was a scam. The craziest thing was that he didn't even state what bank he was from.  These guys keep getting better and better every day. And with failed fraud attempts, they come up with even bigger and better ways to rob people of their money and identities. And for this reason, the need for cybersecurity has become even more crucial than ever before. With the ever-evolving tactics of these guys, cybersecurity measures must be taken seriously by everyone. Cybercrime can come in many different forms, and one of them that people often overlook is "framing." This would be a criminal use of one's identity. Recently, a friend of mine had a big deal come his way. He reached out to me to talk about it first, as he was overwhelmed at that moment to think through it. He said a huge amount of money needed to be paid for some goods, but they needed him to take responsibility by signing a contract and collecting the money to be paid, and then he would receive a big cut from it.  The money was to come from the deputy governor of some state, as claimed. The weirdest thing, however, was that the person who reached out to him knew him, but my friend didn't have any idea who they were. The money looked like a big opportunity to him anyway. It all looked suspicious to me. I wondered why the government would be reaching out to him so unofficially. And then, why did he have to be the one to sign and collect the money without even being the owner of the project? And even worse of all, his private details like his National Identity Number would be used. After our little discussion, we agreed that he would do some more research before jumping in. He reached back after a few hours to tell me it was a scam. And that would have been how his identity would have been used for whatever fraudulent act the criminal had planned.  These fraud cases can be really well hidden sometimes, and without being cautious, one can fall prey, and they would have become victims way earlier than they would even realize. This is why the need for cybersecurity is crucial. Cybersecurity can be employed in many ways, depending on the situation. There are advanced technologies for specific cybercrimes, but a few things that I do to keep myself safe in the best way I can are: - Never be greedy; there are always juicy offers to pull one in. If I am not earning the money by actually working for it, then I flee! Second-guessing is often a bad idea.  - Look thrice if I have to release sensitive information. If I have to share some private numbers, things like keys, national numbers, and even phone numbers or addresses, anything that's crucial to my identity and assets, then I am checking more than twice. - Avoid suspicious links; if I see something like "click here to win..." I flee! Sometimes, just a little access to one's device is enough for cybercriminals to do their hobby. It's obviously why phishing links aren't likely here on Hive. - Use unthinkable passwords and different ones on social media platforms. I have been creating very weird passwords since I was a little boy. My passwords never related to anyone or anything anybody could think of. And usually have different ones for different platforms. Being hacked on could lead to a train of attacks. </div> --- <center><sub>This post is inspired by the #WEEKEND-ENGAGEMENT topic, **"The Rise of Cybercrime...**. If you would like to know more about it and the community, click [here](https://peakd.com/hive-168869/@galenkp/weekend-engagement-writing-topics-week-151).</sub></center> --- <center><sub>Original Images</sub></center> ---
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