

It’s important to have multiple layers to protect yourself so the weaknesses of one technology are covered by the strengths of the others. The most fundamental rule of data security is that no one technology holds the key to protecting everything. Some methods are effective against both types of attack, while others are more specialized tools. Thankfully, there are ways to protect your machine against these attacks. There are two main ways cybercriminals can attack you: the first is by luring you into using malware to open up your system to them, and the second is by hacking into your accounts or computer directly. Both types of information are valuable to cybercriminals, but many focus the bulk of their efforts on the discount store because it contains lucrative low-hanging fruit that hackers of all abilities are all-too-eager to pick.

However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t protect your financial data. High-ticket items like corporate or government secrets take a lot more skill to get, because they’re usually much better protected. But criminals work to gather enough low-ticket pieces of information to sell in bulk to rack up a big payday. Financial data is only worth a few bucks for each account, and social networking data isn’t worth a whole lot more. Most cyberattackers work more like a discount store than a car dealership. The discount store carries a ton of items sold for little profit but they sell products all the time, while the car dealership sells fewer items at a lower frequency but a much greater profit. Need an example? Think of your financial information as a car dealership and your social networking details as a discount store. Your social information gives hackers access to your friends on those networks, who then become susceptible to cybercriminal attacks as well. You might be surprised to know your social networking login details can often be worth more to cybercriminals than your financial information, because there are many protections for consumers against financial fraud but next to none for online accounts like email and social networking. What’s More Valuable, Financial Info or Login Details? They’re after the names and numbers in your address book and want to access your social networking sites and steal your personal data (social security or credit card numbers, bank account information, etc). Most attacks these days are financially motivated, which means cybercriminals are trying to get at either your data or your computer’s processing power to make money by spewing spam on your behalf or by stealing your identity.
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How To + Recommended How a Cyber Criminal Can Steal Information Off Your Computer (and How to Protect Yourself Against Theft)
