What People Know About Cybersecurity: Survey Insights

Introduction:

Cybersecurity is one of the most important topics in the entire world, whether it be in companies that are tech giants or just a normal person enjoying their daily life, It plays a very vital role in protecting people and companies from malicious actors. Although not everyone has full-fledged knowledge about every single component of cybersecurity, I believe they should at least have enough knowledge to protect themselves in case they are the ones in the scope of a cyber attacker.

So I prepared a survey form which was sent to specific people making sure I was covering a diverse range of occupations and age groups. The survey gathered their real-world experience and knowledge they had related to cybersecurity and hacking. In this blog, I reviewed the survey responses and categorised them into various topics to provide a clear and organised discussion on common cybersecurity misconceptions and experiences while giving my own tips on how to improve your security online to stay safe in this digital world:

First Thoughts on Hacking:

When people hear the word hacking their first thought is either getting access to a device illegally or breaking into applications or sites to get access to data or information not normally made available to the public. In reality, hacking is of various types legal and illegal. There are three types of hackers:

Black Hat Hackers

White Hat Hackers

Grey Hat Hackers

The hackers that are known to perform malicious activities and do illegal activities are the Black Hat Hackers. White Hat Hackers work for companies or organisations to save them from the bad guys. They test the websites or networks legally by obtaining permission from the correct authorities before launching any attacks. Grey hat hackers can be referred to as a crossbreed between the two types mentioned before, their goal is to perform attacks illegally but without the intention to do any harm or to gain anything financially.

Sources for Cybersecurity Information:

90% of all the responses received mentioned their go-to source of cybersecurity information to be YouTube videos , Google news and the general news. Information received from these platforms are often incomplete or false which can lead to misconceptions or confusion.

Some Trusted news sources are:

Bleeping Computers

Morningstar Security

The Hacker News

The Guardian

Media Portrayal of Hacking:

General movies or media showcase hackers as a person who can hack into almost anything within hours or minutes which is very unrealistic as compared to real life. Hacking in real life can take days or even months just to plan and study the target that needs to be hacked, after which comes the phase of actually launching the attack.

Personal Experiences with Cyber Attacks:

About 1 in 200 people become a victim of a hack every day around the world whether they know it or not. It is not only the people with weak passwords getting hacked, you can get hacked even if you have a strong password just by clicking on a malicious link or entering your credentials in a bogus website. There are many more sophisticated attacks that can be used by attackers but all of them can generally be avoided by being mindful while clicking links, entering personal details and downloading apps/documents.

Changing Public Attitudes Towards Hacking:

The awareness about hacking has been spreading among the general public since the time major news articles have been including it in their stories which has made people realise that it is not impossible to be protected against hacks. This has also made people more aware about hacking being a very dangerous threat to not only tech giants but also to the general public.

Protecting Yourself from Cyber Threats:

When it comes to security the first thing that people think is having a strong password, it is a good step but should not be the only one. Having a strong password will only save you in situations where the attacker has not compromised your devices as complicated passwords can take years to crack, but once your devices are compromised having a strong password is useless because the attacker has access to your device which he can use to access your account without the need to login.

Some good ways to protect your devices are using antivirus and antimalware programs, having permissions for data access setup, using MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication), having a proper firewall setup to control network access, etc.

Current Concerns about Online Security:

Almost every day, everything from bank accounts to social media accounts are being compromised which results in a huge loss of money worldwide for individuals falling victim to these hacks. All of these attacks are blamed on the social media company or the bank, but research shows that 85% of the times the user was targeted by a social engineering attack. These types of attacks are based on psychological manipulation of the users into giving attackers all the details they need to get in the user's account. Imagine receiving an email that looks like it's from your boss, asking for your company account credentials. Thinking the email is legitimate, you respond with the information. However, it turns out the email wasn't from your boss at all, but from a malicious actor trying to steal your credentials. This type of attack is very common nowadays and is called a phishing attack. In this case, the email looks identical to a real one because it's very easy for attackers to fake an email.

Personal Data Protection Strategies:

Some methods you can use to protect you and your data are:

1. Use complicated passwords and do not reuse the password on multiple

   websites or logins.

2. Enable 2FA (Two-Factor-Authentication).

3. Verify the digital signatures on emails to ensure they come from a legitimate source.

4. Instead of clicking on links from unknown or suspicious senders, type the URL directly into your browser.

5. Keep all your software updated to the latest security patch.

6. Install and use reputable antivirus software that has real-time protection and runs a scan of your system regularly.

7. Avoid using open/free wifi networks.

8. Secure your mobile devices by using pins or passwords and set up a remote wipe feature to erase any data in case the mobile gets stolen.