We live in a changing world, in which the Internet is one of the nerve centers of our daily activity. In a context like this, in which every minute more than a million and a half dollars are spent on electronic commerce and almost 70 million messages are sent to WhatsApp, one of the suspicions that is increasingly occupying more debates is that of data in Internet and its privacy and treatment.
When we talk about data we refer to any photo, tweet, video, email or information that we can generate and transmit through the network. We are very concerned about the treatment of private information that runs through the internet, but when we talk about cybersecurity, it still seems to many to be a concept closer to science fiction than reality. Quite the contrary. Cybersecurity is the discipline that is responsible for defending the infrastructures and data that are connected to the network, and that, therefore, can be subject to possible digital attacks or cyberattacks.
To put figures to the situation, since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic it is estimated that cyber attacks have increased by approximately 475% (according to data from BitDe-fender). This increase has not happened at a peak of attacks, but has become a trend, and that means that we are much more likely to suffer a cyber attack than almost two years ago. Glovo, Damm, Movistar, Twitch or the Autonomous University of Barcelona have in common that they are well-known names and brands that have suffered cyberattacks during the past 2021.
One of the most used techniques has been ransomware, a type of malicious file that the user receives and executes without knowing that it is an illicit file that infects their computer and the entire network to which it is connected. After the infection of the infrastructure, it asks for ransoms paid with cryptocurrencies to recover the information, without having any guarantee that it will be recovered before making the payment.
Faced with a situation like this, it is when we see that we really are more vulnerable than we think, and topical thoughts such as “I am a normal person, I have no data that could interest anyone” are no longer valid. Every day around 40,000 cyberattacks are carried out around the world without distinction between individuals and companies, or from one country to another. Although it is true that at a particular level a cyber attack is easier to solve when you have a copy of the data that has been encrypted, when this situation occurs in a company or an industry, the paradigm changes quite a bit, since in part of data (which in many cases belong to third parties), this type of digital attack also stops infrastructures and, therefore, the production and productivity of the company. When SEPE was attacked in early 2021, it took a fortnight for full operation to be restored. In the case of a public body, economic losses can be covered because there is a state behind it, but what happens if such a case occurs in a private company? What company can afford to spend two weeks without being able to produce or sell? They are very few, and also with important economic consequences.
According to the study of the current panorama of cybersecurity in Spain prepared by Google, 60% of small or medium-sized companies that receive a cyberattack end up closing within 6 months. In conclusion, cybersecurity is no longer science fiction. In fact, we are not talking about isolated events either, but rather that it is becoming a silent world war where power wins over who has more information. That is why it is so important to be aware that the trend of cyberattacks is growing, and that in a hyper-connected world it is very important to be well protected and constantly reinforce the layers that make up cybersecurity, such as infrastructure, data and the human element, which must be formed, because it is currently the weakest element in this chain.
Post in collaboration with LightEyes
