3 People That Cybercriminals Love: Are You One of Them?

Cybercriminals are always on the prowl for their next victim and tend to go after people who make hacking easy for them. Individuals who aren’t aware of the threats and consequences of these cyber-attacks are only hurting themselves. It is extremely important to know and practice basic cybersecurity to ensure you, your company and sensitive information remain secure.

As mentioned above, hackers like it easy. They prey on people who share too much online, those who are fooled easily and individuals who don’t take the preventative measures to keep their data safe are ideal victims for cybercriminals. Are you one of them?

1.) The Social Butterfly

Let’s be honest: The more you put online, the easier you are to hack. Now, we’re not saying being social on social media is a bad thing, but there are measures you should take to ensure that your private information won’t be used against you. Hackers are known to troll social media for photos, videos and other information that can help them better target you and/or your company in an attack.

Many individuals’ social media accounts are public and regularly share personal information like their location, birthday, relationships, place of work, etc.; hackers are gathering this information and plotting ways to make you their next victim.

Keep your firewall and anti-virus up to date, use strong passwords, and be cautious about who you accept as friends/followers online. If this has got you thinking, go ahead and search yourself online to see what information about yourself is out there.

2.) The Macho Man

“That could NEVER happen to me!” Such a risky sentence, yet so widely spoken. Small and medium-sized business owners tend to think they are invincible when it comes to cyber-attacks; this actually couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, you are at risk every single day that you refuse to upgrade your security systems.

Your business might as well have a red target painted on the front because that is exactly how cybercriminals will perceive you if you have this mindset. Small and medium-sized businesses are becoming a favored target due to a lack of awareness of the threats surrounding them.

3.) The Gullible Gull

 People who are easily fooled are more likely to fall prey to phishing scams, which are by far the top tactic that hackers use to get what they want. Hackers are becoming experts at social engineering and carefully craft their phishing messages to fool more people than ever, even people you would not otherwise consider “gullible.”

When you’re online, don’t click something unless you’re expecting it and you’re positive it’s from someone/something you recognize. Always hover over the link to see if the source is genuine and always call the sender if the email seems suspicious. Repeat after me: Think before you click!

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