Cyber Hacking is one of the biggest security issues of our day. It is an ever growing problem that seems to have no solution. Every time we update our security systems, the hackers find new ways to breach them. Here is how hackers operate when accessing your account.
When you think of a hacker, you probably imagine a hooded figure sitting in darkness, only the artificial light of a computer screen highlighting his face. This may not be a true image, but it does perfectly illustrate why hacking is such a difficult crime to solve. A hacker commits his crime from a distance, shrouded in darkness, always out of reach.
A faceless criminal
Criminals usually get what’s coming for them. They make mistakes, they leave trails of DNA on the crime scene, or an eyewitness recognizes them and reports them to the police, leading to their arrest. That is, most criminals get caught in the end. There are some criminals who always seem to evade arrest. Hackers can commit their crimes anonymously, making it very difficult for law enforcement to catch them. You can get a glimpse into the life of a hacker by learning about coding.
Ransomware
One method used by cybercriminals is the so-called ransomware. This is a malware hackers use to blackmail a company. In 2017, for example, the container shipping firm Maersk was hit by a ransomware attack. The hackers prevented people from accessing their data unless they paid the hackers money. This attack cost Maersk around 200-300 million dollars.
Hackers use this method effectively when attacking big companies such as maersk. When hackers target individuals, however, they use other methods.
Phishing
Phishing is a term used to describe the method of phishing information from people on the internet. Hackers will try to lure you to reveal personal information such as your username, password, or your bank account information. Often you will receive a message by email that seems to be from someone else, someone you can trust. This leads you to reveal sensitive information about yourself. Other times the message has a link. If you click the link you have downloaded harmful software onto your device.
The main goal is usually to gain access to your password and username, so the hacker can operate using your accounts.
How hackers guess your password
Even without the method of phishing, hackers can gain access to your accounts. They do this by guessing your password. If your password contains common words and phrases, you have made it very easy for hackers to guess the combination. In fact, it only takes a few minutes for a computer to guess a weak password. A strong password contains numbers, upper case letters as well as lower case letters. It is important that your password is completely random, making it difficult for the computer to guess the combination of letters and numbers. You can generate a password with passwordhero to make sure your password is random and unrelated to any other password you have created in your life.
