2015 is gone and it’s time for aftermaths, wrap ups, new year’s resolutions, predictions and forecasts.
Whatever the past year has been, we would continue to hope for the better, which, in the cyber space means more security and usefulness, and less clutter and crime. “Hoping”, however, won’t do the job.
Truth is the more conscious and alert we are in real life, the safer we will be in the cyber space as the cyber space is simply mirroring our physical world and thus –our own selves:
- We fight biological viruses, and yet we have created viruses in the cyber space.
- Ransomware could be categorized as the cyber AIDS – there is no real anti-dote against it. Once it decrypts your files, you are not getting them back.
- No one is fully secure in the physical world, nor is he in the virtual space. The more we fight crime in all its forms, the more crime evolves.
- Privacy and anonymity are almost non-existent. Basically, if someone really wants to find you, he is likely to succeed.
- IoT works like a vehicle between the cyber and the real world – every device will soon be getting an IP address, according to How computer security changed in 2015, which may ease our lives on one hand, but on the other – it will turn them into doors wide open for cyber crooks.
- Cyber espionage „is becoming more advanced, effective, and professional,” due to our world’s increasing dependency on computers, according to a research conducted in 2014, titled Nation State Cyber Espionage and its Impacts. In addition, “cyber espionage is becoming an accepted, and even preferred means of warfare.”
These two worlds have become tightly interdependent and the quality of our own lives would naturally depend on their states but mostly on our own attitude towards them.We may be more connected and informed than ever, but we have become more vulnerable as well. If we are unable to balance between the physical and the cyber world, then we are to bear negative consequences such as:
- Your system has been infected and you have lost valuable data that could ruin your life.
- Your personal details have been stolen and used for fraudulent purposes that could ruin your credit history.
- Cyber criminals have spied on you via IoT, and you know that almost every step you make on the Web is being monitored and recorded.
Knowing or having experienced any of the above…
1. Why are we then so bluntly racing to report everything we do via the social channels even when no one is asking for it?
2. If we carry invaluable information on our computers, so important that our work, life, relationships, etc. depend on it, why don’t we all back it up the least?
3. Criminals have broken into our homes while we were on a vacation, and yet we talked up our holiday plans on social media prior to leaving.`
One thing is sure – if we are negligent in the physical life, we are likely to be negligent in the cyber space, too.
Whether our life-saving computer files have been decrypted, or we have forgotten a physical file with life-saving information in the metro- station, the result is one – we pay for our negligence and ignorance. So, do not put the whole blame to cyber crooks and don’t get frustrated by their progress. Rather, look into your own attitude first. Their success largely – if not solely- depends on us too.
Remember: whatever we do and happens to us via the cyber space, mirrors our own selves in the physical world. That simply means we still have power to change what we don’t like and what we don’t want.
