One of the biggest fears people have today is that their personal data will be compromised and fall into the wrong hands. When you work with sensitive data in your day-to-day life, it is easy to feel worried about leaving yourself vulnerable to hacks and attacks on your privacy.
The reality, however, is that there are more reasons than you might think why your personal data could be at risk. In this article, we will go over the top five reasons why your confidential information could be compromised without you even knowing it.
1. Social engineering
Security experts say social engineering is one of, if not, the most effective and dangerous threat in today’s online world. Social engineering is also extremely easy to perform, often requiring little more than a phone call or an email.
A hacker can use common tactics like phishing to trick you into providing your password or other sensitive information.
The best way to protect yourself against social engineering is by knowing how hackers use it against you so that you know what red flags to look out for.
For example, if someone sends an email from their work address asking for your password, but only after telling you a false story about why they need it — do not provide it!
2. Phishing frauds
Phishing frauds are a common means for hackers to gain access to sensitive data. In most cases, users do not even know that they have been targeted until after their personal information has been compromised.
Phishing frauds are now so common that one in every forty-five emails is phishing-related, according to Forrester Research. Criminals can also hack into email servers and expose information through phishing-like messages.
The biggest tell-tale sign of a phishing fraud is an urgent or unexpected request for you to send personal information through email, text, or phone call—do not ever fall for it!
3. Spyware
With spyware, a third party gets access to your personal information and potentially all your confidential data. It is likely that you do not want just anyone to know what email addresses or passwords you use.
Spyware can get on your system through malicious links in spam emails, advertisements or browser plug-ins and extensions.
What makes spyware so dangerous is that it operates behind-the-scenes without you knowing it. Luckily, there are ways to spot if spyware has infected your computer system and what steps to take to get rid of it before it causes any damage or steals any valuable information.
4. Keyloggers
Some malware is designed to sit on your computer and record all your keystrokes—passwords, emails, messages and more. Keyloggers are especially dangerous because they are virtually impossible to detect.
But that does not mean you should panic; these threats are rare, so it is more important to be aware of what keyloggers do rather than be overly paranoid about them.
It is also worth mentioning that keyloggers are not automatically installed on your computer. If someone is trying to hack you, they will have to either trick you into installing a keylogger yourself or access your system through another method (such as phishing or malware).
5. Ransomware
Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts your personal files and holds them hostage in exchange for money. If you are not careful, you could lose access to years’ worth of precious memories—and even financial documents like W-2s or tax returns.
To protect yourself from cybercriminals who might try to extort money from you, make sure to secure your files with strong passwords. When it comes to digital security, it is always better to be safe than sorry.
As we said, it is always better to be safe than sorry. One of our tips for keeping your personal data secure is to use strong passwords. As you may have noticed in recent years, it seems like increased websites are using weak default passwords that are easily hackable by cybercriminals.
When you think about it, why would a website let people log into their accounts with easy-to-guess passwords?
Many internet users often reuse passwords across multiple websites to make it easier to log in. This is extremely risky, because if your password for one site is compromised (say, by getting hacked), that means someone could have access to every website where you use that same password.
You are much better off using strong, unique passwords for each website you visit.
