• Georgianna Ramirez
• On August 9, 2017

With the world going online, there are many security vulnerabilities coming with it. If you are an online user, you should know that all your data is vulnerable to hackers. These hackers exploit any and all type of security vulnerabilities that are left behind due to sheer negligence or lack of awareness. Therefore, it is highly important that cyber security is a part of everyone’s life. Here are a few factors why cyber security is important in our lives:

1. Increasing Cyber Attacks:

In the past year, there have been a large number of cyber-attacks and that too on big conglomerates like Sony Pictures, Apple etc. These attacks were possible because of the negligence in cyber security. If close attention was paid to the vulnerabilities, they could have been tackled before the breaches happened. This shows how important cyber security is in terms of securing highly sensitive data that is available on networks that are both offline and online. If you own branded surveillance systems like those from Hikvision, cyber security measures are in place and you don’t have to worry about any vulnerabilities.

2. Ransomwares:

You all must have heard about WannaCry and Peta ransomwares. These ransomwares have targeted corporate networks as well as home networks of various computers all across the globe. They encrypt all your data and files and only decrypt them if you pay a ransom to them. For people who can’t afford to lose their precious data, the only way to get it back is by paying the ransom. If cyber security awareness had been taken seriously, these ransomwares could have easily been thwarted as people wouldn’t have accessed suspicious email attachments through which the ransomware first started spreading.

3. The Growing Collection of Bogus Sites:

It is so easy to get a domain registered that anyone can get multiple domains and hosting. Due to this, millions of websites are available on the web. These websites allow malicious hackers to attack unaware people very easily by just playing a little bit on the words of authority websites. For example, if an attacker would like to carry out a phishing attack on someone’s Facebook account, he could register a common misspelling of Facebook and make a similar UI to trick people into giving out their usernames and passwords.

4. Lack of Firewalls and Antiviruses:

Because people are still unaware of cyber security in the general sense, they feel that antiviruses and firewalls are a waste of money. Be advised that antiviruses and firewalls are the only things that stand between the potential hackers and your system. These antiviruses are updated regularly so that your system stays safe from the latest security threats. These threats aren’t just cyber-based, but non-cyber ones too. Even when a non-cyber threat infects your system, it opens your system to cyber vulnerabilities. One such virus is a Trojan horse, which installs a client on your system and gives remote control to someone else. Therefore, install antivirus and keep it up to date.

Cyber security is of grave importance and the reason behind this importance is the growing attacks and vulnerabilities all across the vastness of internet. Therefore, keep yourself aware and up to date with the latest cyber security knowledge.