We live in a hyperconnected world and whether we are fully aware of this fact or we rather lived without fully recognizing it, every one of us is part of this worldwide network that relates us. Our entire lives are available online, just with one click people can access data from anywhere in the world. As the American Thomas Friedman states in his book, our world is “flat”. Globalization has changed the way we live and we are all connected now. While this has many benefits and people can take advantage of reaching out to friends, business transactions or purchases by just clicking a few times on their keyboards, there are also many disadvantages or dangers we can be exposed to.
From all the perils brought about by the new hectic online life, newly born cyber crimes may be some of the most dangerous ones. Wired activities have brought about the appearance of new types of crimes like cyber attacks. South Africa is not immune to this, actually cyber security in this country is not a priority and citizens are vulnerable to attacks. The government could improve security by bringing forward further legislation in the matter and investing heavily in security measures. However, until that happens, network users need to be educated and become aware of these perils in order to avoid being attacked and so feel safe when surfing the net.
When successfully hacking our systems, programmes or networks, cyber criminals gain access to more information than we know. They have access to a big portion of our lives, and after taking hold of those facts, the consequences are many. With what they learn about us, lawbreakers can steal money or identities, they can manage our online accounts without us noticing it, steal data and even force entire companies to stop their operations until they get what they desire.
Even when we deal with transactions which are part of our everyday life, or seem not to put us in risk, we have to conduct ourselves in the online space in a thorough and responsible way. For instance, the information individuals give when they obtain a personal loan is not an exception, people should check that they are dealing with a reliable lender company, entity or bank like QuotesAdvisor when they apply for personal loans and that their conditions are clear and safe.
Finally, we can mention one crime which is one of the most dangerous, or that has many negative consequences to those who are a victim of it. We are referring to identity theft (see here). As mentioned, knowledge is power, knowing of its existence can help us to prevent it. There are a number of ways in which we can be a victim of this type of crime, for instance financial, medical, tax or child identity thefts. Thieves who are after people’s identities use the technology offered by our computers to access, search and hack into computers anywhere in the world. Social networking, which has been around for not such a long time, is also a shortcut for criminals.
Acknowledging the importance of becoming aware of the perils that can be found in the cyber world, is, for sure, one of the best paths to surf the net in the safest way possible. We have yet to know how wide it is, and how far it can continue to grow. Many experts are there to help, and we also have to conscientiously move around when dealing with online transactions and when it comes to giving out important information about ourselves.
Last Updated: November 30, 2021
