We all worry about our stuff being stolen from our homes; and
our cars, trucks, or SUV's. Not only does theft result in the loss of our
personal possessions it results in a loss of our security. Often victims may
not have lost much in monetary value, but they have a strong feeling of
violation.
Securing our homes, securing our cars and our workplaces are
first on our minds. After all, we live, work and travel in these physical
spaces. Our homes, workplaces and vehicles are tangible to our senses. We
should work hard to secure the places around us.
But, criminals are flexible. They go where they think the
money is. And they go where they think that there is little risk of being
caught.
Over the last 30 or more years we have migrated more and
more of our lives to computer technology. We started with PC's at our desks at
work, then at our homes. The convenience of taking our work with us (and
sometimes our games) drove us to use laptops, then tablets. Now, we can be
completely mobile with smartphones in our pockets and purses. And criminals are
following the new technology.
In our wondrous new world of communications and information
at our fingertips, a dark side is developing alongside the new capabilities
that we have as individuals, companies, and organizations. The future of crime
is online. And the criminals who steal online are just as bad as the burglars
and car thieves who break into our homes our cars. If we are savvy about
preventing crime in our home, then we need to be equally as savvy online.
I have come to this conclusion after reading two books.
"Spam Nation" by Brian Krebs (http://krebsonsecurity.com/) documents the Russian and East European
gangs who try to invade our PC's and to invade the databases of major companies
for identity theft and other crimes. The other book is "Future Crime"
by Marc Goodman (http://www.marcgoodman.net/)
who shows the vulnerabilities that we face on our PC's, laptops, tablets,
mobile phones. Mr. Goodman projects that
as more of our lives become connected, for example in our cars, our
appliances and our security systems, we will open ourselves to seemingly
unlimited opportunities for criminal mischief.
One problem with this new age of crime is that the cyber
criminals can be anywhere. And they often are far away from your local
jurisdiction. With a burglary or a car prowl, you can at least call 911 and
have some expectation of an investigation. But who do you call if someone has
scammed you out of your hard earned money, or stolen your ID. Often these
criminals are on the other side of the world, away from even the FBI or other
national law enforcement agencies.
The new reality of cybercrime adds complications and
insecurity to our lives. Now we have to think about locking our doors at home
and blocking access to our computers and a myriad of new devices that we will
rely on in the future.
With the new reality of cybercrime comes new nomenclature;
spam, scams, ID theft, malware, spoofing, middle man attack, phishing. New
defenses include firewalls, anti-virus software, two factor authentication.
Cybercrime and the defenses against it are dynamic subjects that will be
developing over the near future.
Police always preach awareness of your surroundings. Just as
we should be aware of our surroundings at home or at work, now we need to be
aware of potential online crimes. Educate yourself about the online security
measures that you can take with your PC and mobile devices. Implement those
measures. And keep up to date to new threats and new prevention measures as
they develop. It may seem like the best strategy might be to go off line. But
we have past the point of no return. There is enough of our information that is
already on computers that the best thing we can do is to be engaged and do what
we can as individuals to protect ourselves.
For a summary of some things that you can do to protect
yourself take a look at this link:
Ask Leo:
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