The internet is a fantastic place that makes our lives a lot better and easier. However, it can also be a dangerous place if you don’t take the necessary measures of precaution. Apart from being able to watch cute and funny cat videos and have access to all of the world’s information, you could also become a victim and have your money or data stolen. According to TechJury, security breaches are not only dangerous, but absolutely devastating to anyone who experiences them.
To help you stay safe, we’ve created a list of the biggest online threats to be worried about in 2021.
Botnets
Botnets are one of the most common online threats. They might look harmless and benign, but they can do a lot of damage.
Basically, botnets create a system of infected computers that become controlled by the attacker. However, they don’t show any symptoms of infection and continue to work normally.
Botnets usually send spam emails, spread malware, and perform DDoS attacks. Just in the first quarter of 2018, the share of botnets rose from 29% to 34%.
Hacking
Hacking is the most well-known type of online threat. Everyone knows about it thanks to numerous Hollywood movies.
Hacking is the act of someone gaining unauthorized access to your devices. Hackers can then gain access to your sensitive information, steal your bank account data, or infect your computer with harmful data.
Sometimes, these attacks are done in a targeted way and other times they are performed on a massive scale. In 2018, for example, around 50 million Facebook accounts were affected by just one attack which is one of the most serious online threats to date.
Malware
Malware is a harmful software that is most likely to infect your devices because they are easy to create and distribute. They are usually built in suspicious or obscure software that appears to be legitimate, suspicious websites, and even ads and banners that you find on legitimate sites.
Some of the examples include viruses, worms, trojans, adware, and spyware. To protect yourself, stay away from third-party app stores, be careful about websites you visit, and be particularly diligent about what email and other attachments and files you download.
Pharming and Phishing
Pharming and phishing are types of online frauds that online scam artists use to steal sensitive information from the internet users. Pharming is done by creating a malicious website that looks almost exactly the same as the legitimate one you’re looking for. If you enter any personal data on that website, such as your password, the hackers will immediately get hold of it.
Phishing has the same goal as pharming, but it is done differently. Online scam artists usually act like a legitimate company or a service and try to trick you into disclosing your personal information. For example, they send fake emails, text messages, and even call people. If you want to know how to avoid fake emails, click here.
WiFi Eavesdropping
Did you know that you are under a bigger threat of cyber attacks when you are connected to public WiFi connections? WiFi eavesdropping is one of the most serious online threats today.
This is an act of intercepting information that is shared over unsecured WiFi networks. A hacker might potentially gain access to your device and steal your personal information, including passwords.
Therefore, if you frequently use public WiFi connections, make sure to have your anti-virus and firewall turned on.