Internet security is one of the major problems facing digitisation and the new technologies and a threat to both businesses and users.
In recent years cybercriminals have come to the fore, with an upturn in the number of scams, frauds and crimes committed via the network of networks, although one premise should be taken as a starting point: “all cyber” isn’t necessarily synonymous with “all risk”.
This statement doesn’t neglect the importance of ensuring security at home when we use the cyberspace for remote work, transactions, communication and study.
There exist a large number of threats, such as phishing (identity theft), malware (malicious programs), ransomware (blackmail programs) and cyberbullying.
In view of the above it’s essential for all users to be aware of the “first aid” to be applied in the event of a cyberattack.
It’s also important to follow a number of simple rules and tips to avoid exposure to these kinds of situations. One example of the above is the five tips provided by the Telefónica company to prevent cyberattacks.
These involve avoiding connections to public and open Wi-Fi networks, checking the senders of incoming communications, protecting devices with an antivirus, checking that the passwords used are secure and strong and upgrading devices.
Cybersecurity: a challenge for everyone
Those who seek financial gain from cybercrime have truly become stronger and better-prepared enemies, as Jorge Chinea, Head of Cybersecurity in Reactive Services at the INCIBE (National Institute of Cybersecurity), indicates.
This expert argues that cybersecurity is one of the most important challenges facing governments, companies and citizens and underlines how the pandemic has been used by these criminals to change their strategy and use Covid-19 as a decoy.
Within cybersecurity a distinction must be made between cybercrime, when a crime is committed and technology is used to complete it, and cyberincidents, which affect companies or citizens but don’t necessarily constitute crimes and aren’t classified as such in the Criminal Code, explains Chinea.
The main IT incidents involve fraud, such as identity theft and infringements of intellectual property rights, and malware and vulnerable systems displaying weaknesses that enable attackers to access information or carry out unauthorised operations remotely.
Solutions
Cybercrime is a problem that has arrived and permeated society, as demonstrated by the fact that Google searches for the best “tips for staying secure online” have increased by 250 per cent.
The same has occurred with queries related to password security, with an increase of 300 per cent, according to the multinational company based in Mountain View (California). In addition to these figures, Spanish SMEs regard their level of internal protection as “poor or very poor”.
This scenario is forcing decisions to be made and partnerships to be sought as a way of becoming strong against crime. This is the case of Google and its cooperation with INCIBE in training SMEs in cybersecurity by means of online courses with the aim of improving and reinforcing their IT security.
The aim is to raise their awareness of the importance of issues such as “dual authentication” accounts, social media, applications, services and passwords with at least twelve characters that combine upper and lower case letters or symbols, avoiding using the same password for everything and not using common words or consecutive letters on the keyboard.
