Cyber Crimes

My paper a few days ago reported that social media posts are putting people at risk from criminals and aggressive marketeers.   Yesterday, The Times reported that hackers are targeting the “sophisticated computer systems that guide luxury yachts through the high seas and allow their owners to run their business empire from the comfort of their cabins.”  With control over a yacht’s vital functions, criminals would be perfectly placed to demand ransoms from their victims.  CCTV systems could be hijacked allowing criminals to exploit personal information for blackmail.  The web, or more specifically, “the dark web” is nearly impenetrable allowing all sorts of criminal activity including extortion, paedophilia, contract killing and fraud to continue unmolested by law enforcement.  Then just look around your home and its increasing reliance on “The Internet of Things (IoT)” - the gadget that controls your heating and your lights, the security camera, your smart TV, your Fitbit data, smart energy meter and the list goes on.  In fact, IoT is expanding at a frightening rate.  Marc Goodman in his excellent book “Future Crimes” observes:

“Adding 50 billion new objects to the global information grid by 2020 means that each of these devices, for good or ill, will be able potentially to interact with the other 50 billion connected objects on earth.  The result will be 2.5 sextillion potential networked object to object interactions – a network so vast and complex it can scarcely be understood or modelled.  The IoT will be a global network of unintended consequences.”

I found Future Crimes extremely disturbing yet compulsive reading.  The chapter explaining why Google services are free, encapsulated by the phrase “because you are the product not the customer,” was particularly enlightening. After a relentless 600 pages of doom-laden scenarios it would be tempting to retreat to a lead-lined capsule with no electronic connection to the outside world. Goodman does offer some practical advice for staying safe in the digital world, however.  Probably like me, you know his advice makes sense but, probably like me, you occasionally ignore it?  Perhaps it does no harm to remind ourselves of Marc Goodman’s best digital practice?

·         Update software frequently

·         Use strong passwords and don’t use the same one for multiple applications

·         Don’t download from unofficial sites

·         Restrict administrator access on your computer and use non-privileged access for day to day operations

·         Turn off the computer when not in use

·         Encrypt your data

·         Don’t open suspicious links in email

·         Back up your data frequently (not to the same or connected hard disc)