The world's leading researcher covering the global cyber economy says we will soon experience the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind - from your pockets to the fists of cybercriminals from around the world. Here's what to expect, the adjustments you must make, and the mindset you need to survive.
What you should expect
Besides being the world's leading researcher in cyber economics, Cybersecurity Ventures is also a leading trusted source for cybersecurity facts, figures, and statistics. Here is the opening headline for their seminal report as prepared by AT&T Cybersecurity Insights and "The CEO's Guide to Data Security:"
"Cybercrime damages are expected to rise to $6 trillion annually by 2021. This represents the greatest transfer of economic wealth in history, and will be more profitable than the global trade of all major illegal drugs combined."
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett sees it this way, as he stated last year at his annual Berkshire Hathaway investor's meeting:
"I do think (cyber) is the number one problem with mankind."
For greater perspective on the problem's scope and scale, here are some more statistics and facts from Cybersecurity Ventures' report:
Today, cyber risk infects every aspect of our daily lives, and cybercrime rates are expected to get much worse in the years ahead. Yet, who is prepared? Who will protect you from the onslaught of crime and risk?
Who will protect you from cybercrime?
The government?
As citizens, voters, and taxpayers, we have already suffered massive losses of personal information, including the most basic elements of our privacy to inept government agencies. Government is woefully unprepared to protect.
Will the corporate sector protect?
Headlines remind us daily - businesses large and small are losing the war on hacking and cybercrime. Worse, companies have been found systematically lying, cheating, and breaking the rules to mine and sell our personal information. It’s what drives corporate profits today, and it won’t relent for years to come. Equifax and Facebook are just the tip of the ice-berg for what is to come.
Military and law enforcement; will it protect you from cyber risk?
The Russians have already infected millions of routers in our homes, offices, and small businesses and have been collecting our information for years. But, the military does indeed "get it" and understands the stakes at hand. The first of its kind joint-warning by the U.S. and U.K. in April 2018 says homes, offices, and business are hacked and it is now up to us individually to take measures to defend.
Cyber security - it's personal now.
Over the next few years we will experience a historic tidal wave of criminal activity, and it's directly aimed at the most personal aspects of our lives. The action will be voluminous and random, indiscriminately attacking every angle to collect, manipulate and exploit our personal information.
To minimize risk and avoid the potentially devastating consequences of a cyber-attack, it is now up to each of us to protect. As individuals, heads-of-household, professional practitioners, and business owners, the responsibility is ours to adapt and adjust for a new age of risk.
The good news? Modern IT security technology is highly effective, astonishingly affordable, easy to use "as-a-service" and anyone can take serious measures to take cybersecurity in their own hands.
Homes, offices, professional practices and small businesses should all leverage recent advances in cybersecurity technology to protect.
Here's how:
Protecting yourself from cybercrime.
These are the "Four Fundamentals" - what each should do to position and protect themselves and their personal technology from cyber attacks today, and for the balance of their lives.
#1 - Protect your technology.
Devices, your technology, your computers, laptops and phones - these things must be protected and secure from hackers and criminals with device protection software.
Windows, Macs, and Android - today, all your technology requires advanced device protection from viruses and malware, data theft, spying, key-logging, and much more.
Advanced device protection software monitors and manages the security of your devices in real-time, 24/7. Your technology is continuously optimized with threat intelligence, machine-learning, and updates.
Learn more about device protection for your technology, here.
#2 Privatize your email.
Over 50% of our new customers were hacked on Yahoo, AOL, Gmail, MSN, or other email accounts. Hackers monitor email activity to collect information and engineer attacks to strike for maximum gain.
Third-party researchers claim over 90% of breaches start with an email. You can search the web for yourself to see the data "breaches that begin with email." Whatever the number is, email is the #1 "attack vector" for hackers and cybercriminals.
You can easily opt off the grid of this risk and abuse by creating your own private email domain. With this approach, you own your information, not a 3rd party, and accounts are built for privacy and security – not the reselling of your information. We use a system that is protected physically and virtually, using four dynamic filters and screen for viruses, phishers, and known malicious actors.
Also, for personal domains without a business purpose, we add a privacy wrapper that keeps our name and email out of the "white pages" of the internet - kind of like paying Ma Bell to keep your phone number and home address private. We provide webmail that is is HTTPS secured, and its compatible with Outlook, MacMail, Thunderbird, and most all email software clients.
There are a ton of features and benefits to the way we do private email at Total Digital Security - to see how private email domain and secure email accounts can benefit you, your family, professional practice, or business, please click here for more.
#3 Use encryption when online.
Without protection, your online activities are in the open for anyone to see and collect. Public Wi-Fi, airports, hotels, Starbucks – hackers skulk these networks like new-age pick-pockets you can't see, stealing your passwords and information to exploit in any way they can.
For your mobile devices, our enterprise-grade VPN automatically encrypts all you do online making it all invisible to the outside. This educes your digital footprint and it works on WiFi networks anywhere in the world.
For the best VPN available anywhere today, click here.
#4 Change your mindset.
Personal information is considered the “new oil” - the most valuable commodity in the world. This shift explains why the routers in our homes, offices, and business are targeted by everyone from the kid down the street, to global cybercrime cartels, to the Kremlin and KGB. For more, please read "Russians in Our Routers", here.
Protect your personal information, and treat it like the valuable possession it is. Protect it 24/7 and cyber secure your home, your office and business, and when on the road.
For the best way to create an automated environment of complete and comprehensive protection from all threats across all your devices, consider "Router Network and WiFi Security" - a next-gen solution that represents the best the cyber security industry offers today. This solution is for "fixed-networks" - the ethernet and WiFi internet connections from your internet service provider like Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, Time Warner, Charter, etc.
This is our premier solution. It’s a complete and comprehensive solution that protects your entire network, including all connected devices – computers, printers, smart-TVs and smart appliances – all protected in real-time, 24/7.
Click here for more about Router Security.
If you would like to learn more about using the best cybersecurity products and services for your home, office, and business, please contact us here:
We are pleased to provide a free consultation and no-obligation price quote.
See our website for much more, including how to think about passwords, freezing your credit file, creating a PIN for the IRS, and much more, at www.totaldigitalsecurity.com.