Under Attack: Simple Ways to Dodge the Real Threat of Cybercrime

Published on: 16th August 2024, Updated on: 20th August 2024

Written By:

Darren has been working in the world of UK Supermarkets & Suppliers for over 30 years. Plus, learning, training and coaching. He began his career as a buyer at big 4 UK supermarket and after 13 years he decided to leave to set-up Making Business Matter (MBM) because he wanted to help suppliers & supermarkets to work better together, and to help people to be the very best version of themselves. Connect with Darren on Linkedin and his Google Profile.

This Company Has Been Phished

That company has been subjected to ransomware. My friend has lost his identity. I have a limited idea of what those mean, but what is more scary is that Cybercrime is now bigger than the drug trade. Whilst this article is not absolutely soft skills, I’m sure you’ll allow me to help because if your life gets turned upside down by a hacker, practising soft skills will be the last of your worries.

Hacker wearing a hood in the dark while working on a laptop doing cyber crime — Cybercrimes are a growing concern

A friend of mine had an email from Netflix that someone had signed-in from Columbia. He changed his password. When he logged back in there was an extra profile that said, ‘I still know your password’. Very scary.

The smart guys that work in cybercrime tell me that hackers don’t hack in, they log in. They are not hackers, they are criminals logging into our lives with the intention to somehow make money. Either by stealing your identity to apply for credit cards, bribe you, or to get your passwords. Let’s talk passwords:

Two men are walking in the woods when they see a bear. One man bends down to tighten the laces on his shoes. The other man looks at him and says, “Are you crazy? You can’t outrun a bear!”. The first guy, while tying his shoes, replies, “I don’t need to outrun the bear. I just need to outrun you.”

Hackers are looking for easy wins. They are looking to make money easily, so your password just needs to be stronger than the next guy. Know two things: the most common password is ‘password’, and that most people use the same password for most accounts – Hackers call this the ‘Domino effect’. So, if a hacker gets into your Netflix they can take a good shot at your bank account too.

3 Simple Changes

Use these simple changes to be more secure and to keep the buggers out:

Use 3 random words as your password. For example ‘grass table spoon’. Include the spaces. This makes your password 17 characters. The average is 8.
Your email password is the most valuable because if they get into this they can rest the rest, so make sure this one is different to all your other passwords.
Use a password manager.

Padlock and chains across the keyboard of a computer. — Passwords are key to good cyber security

My Last Top Tip on Cybercrime…

You know when you are on social media and once of those posts comes up asking for your porn star name if you take the street you lived, and your dog’s name type thing? These posts were originated by hackers to get personal information from you. They then use this information to log into your accounts. Don’t complete them anymore. Please.