What Is Cybercrime and How Can You Prevent It?
Cybercrime is any type of criminal offense that involves a computer or computer network. It encompasses everything from stealing personal information and money to hacking into a company’s computers, distributing malware and conducting distributed denial-of-service attacks. It also includes computer-related extortion, stalking and cyberbullying. Many of these crimes are committed on a large scale and have significant economic impacts. For example, the loss of customer data can lead to a share price drop and difficulty for businesses to raise capital. In addition, cyberattacks can damage a business’ reputation and result in fines and penalties.
Vulnerabilities in technology and a lack of attention to security by individuals provide cybercriminals with low-risk, high-reward opportunities. Hackers can use holes in websites, social media and poorly secured smart devices to steal your information or deploy ransomware.
While most cybercrimes are committed by individuals or small groups, some are carried out by organized crime syndicates. These “professional criminals” find new ways to commit old crimes, treating cybercrime as a business and forming global criminal communities. They are constantly finding creative new ways to steal money and private information. For example, they use a smartphone-attached spyware to track politicians, government leaders, human rights activists and dissidents around the world.
While it may be impossible to eliminate cybercrime completely, you can minimize your risk by implementing a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy. This should include a combination of preventive measures and incident response plans that can quickly detect a cyberattack and reduce its impact on your organization.