Can you become a victim of cyberattacks?

When a giant corporation becomes a target in a cyberattack, it immediately makes the news and wins every major headline out there. Because of that, it often comes to a presumption that only corporations can become a victim of cyberattacks.

And that may but not necessarily be true.

Who can become a victim of cyberattacks? Should you care about cyber threats if you are a regular user or a small to medium-sized business owner? What is the risk?

Depending on the hacker’s strategy, everybody has a chance of becoming a victim of cyberattacks.

If you use a device – phone, PC, tablet, or browse the web – you are prone to cyber threats.

That also includes a child using one of the parent’s devices to play games, a senior who uses a phone only to call relatives.

But how do hackers choose their victims? Do they choose them at all?

Strategy 1: targeting the most profitable victims

71% of data breaches are financially motivated. Therefore, one of the most common methods to choose the victim is to target specific companies or even people with the highest profitability chance once hacked.

Usually, hackers target both medium and large-sized companies by exploiting the two weakest links in cybersecurity – passwords, and people.

Statistics specify the numbers:

• 23% of successful data breaches happened because of human error;
• 62% involved the use of stolen passwords, brute force, or phishing.

Therefore, businesses of any size can become a victim of cyberattacks. Because it is cost-effective for a criminal.

Strategy 2: targetting the weakest

The following trend raises serious concerns – hackers also target the weakest. Precisely, the ones that do not have the secure infrastructure or human resources to defend against the attack. The victims can vary from organizations, NGOs, or even individuals.

For instance, public schools with children’s data are becoming tempting targets for ransomware attacks. The leaked data might include personal details, medical conditions, parents’ financial statuses, Social Security numbers, and others.

Senior citizens also fit under the same category. In August 2021, the eldercare review website SeniorAdviser was breached, leaving users’ names, surnames, emails, and phone numbers out in the open.

These examples bring attention to vulnerable groups that are usually the least cyber-literate and can easily suffer from cyberattacks.

Strategy 3: targeting everyone

However, some cybercriminals do not target any specific victim at all. And that is the strategy that everybody has a chance to get trapped in equally.

The biggest cyber threats that you should be aware of include:

• social engineering attacks (especially phishing via email or text messages);
• malware (especially, easily caught through malvertising campaigns);
• password-related cyber threats (f.e. brute force attacks).

These attacks do not necessarily require targeting a specific person. The user himself can accidentally fall into the trap.

How to protect yourself from becoming a victim of cyberattacks ?

Protecting yourself (or your family member) from becoming a victim of cyberattacks starts from recognizing the risks and taking precautions.

Here is what you can do immediately to reduce the chance of successful cyber threats to a minimum:

1. Talk with your children, parents, and grandparents about cyber threats out there. Teach them not to trust very tempting offers, not to click on any suspicious emails and links.
2. Always use Two-factor authentication for the most crucial accounts. Particularly for the ones that store your credit card or other sensitive information.
3. Set your email spam filters to high. This way, you will minimize the number of fraudulent emails that reach your inbox.
4. Never reuse the same passwords. For every new account, create a randomly generated, complex password. Store your passwords in a secure password manager.
5. Use trusted antivirus or antimalware software. Whenever you notice an available update on any device, run it.