The Disgruntled State of Cybersecurity in the UK

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Photo Credit: Saksham Choudhary via www.pexels.com

The current COVID-19 pandemic has opened the doors for cybercriminals to attack businesses and individuals. Whether it’s taking advantage of fear through phishing scams or exposing security weaknesses in an organization’s database, cybercriminals have been proactive.

The UK is no exception. But what threats are UK businesses facing? What about her citizens?

Cyber-Threats Facing the UK

Malware Attacks

The 2017 WannaCry ransomware attacks opened the eyes of cybercriminals everywhere to one, simple truth: ransomware works too well. Since then, ransomware attacks have increased by a significant margin.

In fact, malware attacks make up a decent portion of cyber-attacks. This is because, if done well, malware attacks leave little-to-zero trace back to the hacker and can cause significant damage. Some malware attacks may even go unnoticed for days, weeks, or months before being detected.

Data Breaches

The UK is no stranger to data breaches, with many major data breaches taking place in the last decade. For those unaware, data breaches involve hackers stealing, leaking, or erasing data without permission from the organisation or person.

Data breaches present significant risks to all users since data breaches release confidential information to the public. Passwords, social security information, addresses, etc.: all of this becomes public information with one data breach.

3 Ways Citizens can Protect Themselves

1. Installing a VPN

One way hackers steal data is by snooping on unsecured public networks and steal the data on connected devices. It’s hard to know when a malicious user is present on the network until it’s too late. Fortunately, there are ways to be proactive in protecting users, with a VPN being a top choice.

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) send your data from your device to the network through an encrypted tunnel, making it indecipherable for cybercriminals.

2. Taking Advantage of Account Breach Monitoring

Sites like haveibeenpwned let users know if their account has become victim to a data breach, but only after the fact. Plus, not many people will check the site every single day.

However, certain browsers and services let users know immediately if their account has been breached. Firefox offers account monitoring services, third-party account monitoring services work as well, and even certain banks and firms have account monitoring.

3. Creating Unique Passwords

What is a unique password? Unique passwords are considered passwords that are:

  • Lengthy,
  • Incorporates numbers, letters, and symbols,
  • And is unique to that account.

Many users forego unique passwords for a couple of easy-to-remember passwords, but this means terrible security for their accounts. Creating and using unique passwords will make sure your accounts stay safe.

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