Cybersecurity: Why it Matters More Now Than Ever Before

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Can you imagine life before the internet? A world where you cannot get instant answers to your questions with a Google search or order a pizza online seems like a very strange place. Now we have grown used to living life online, there is no turning back. During 2020, the world’s reliance on the internet reached a whole new level. Life was dominated by constant Zoom calls and excessive time spent browsing Amazon to satisfy suppressed shopping urges. While the online world provided a lifeline for many, a place that met urges to shop, be entertained, and stay connected with friends and family; it also provided a valuable opportunity for cybercriminals. While everyone was busy adjusting to life during a pandemic and distracted by the situation, cybercriminals took full advantage of this. Statistics show that cybercrime cost UK businesses over £6.2 million in 2020, which is a lot of lost customer and business data. These figures highlight the need for secure colocation storage to keep data protected.

Of course, hacks and phishing scams are not limited to businesses, and anyone can fall victim to cybercriminals. Is your email account full of messages claiming you have won vast amounts of Bitcoin or people you have never heard of trying to contact you for a highly important yet, unspecified reason? The chances are you treat these emails with suspicion. Having an email account full of spam may seem pretty innocuous, but it does demonstrate how easy it is for strangers to reach you. 

Keeping Your Data Safe Online

With so many people living their entire lives online, there are a host of vulnerabilities cybercriminals and even regular criminals could exploit. 

Being hacked can feel like a violation of your privacy. If you are the victim of a cybercrime, this can cause financial loss and inconvenience. Knowing how to keep yourself protected is the best way to avoid becoming a victim.

What You Need to Know About Protecting Yourself Online

Keeping up with all the latest information about cybercrime can be challenging when you hear so many horror stories about data breaches. Here is a quick reminder of some of the ways you can keep yourself protected online:

  • Don’t ignore update notifications; you could be missing out on important security updates. To make life easier, you could turn on automatic updates to not miss essential security patches.
  • Setting up two-step authentication is an excellent way to add another layer of security and protect your online data.
  • Reusing the same passwords across multiple platforms can leave you vulnerable to being hacked. Choosing strong passwords and making them different for every account is vital to keep your information safe.

Are you an oversharer? If the world and its uncle knows the name of your pet dog, your car registration number, and when you are off on your holidays, you could be targeted for a cyber attack or a physical burglary at your home. So, it pays to beware what you share on social media.