With the digital part of the world becoming more and more prevelant in everyday life RCMP has named the Crime Prevention theme for November is Cybercrime.
A cybercrime is simply a criminal activity carried out with computers or the internet. Cybercrime generally falls into two categories: Criminal activity that targets and Criminal activity that uses computers to commit other crimes.
Criminal activity that targets use viruses and other types of malware to infect and steal data.
Criminal activity that uses computers to commit other crimes involves using computers or networks to spread malware, illegal information, or illegal images.
Some examples of Cybercrimes are below:
- Email and internet fraud.
- Identity fraud (where personal information is stolen and used).
- Theft of financial or card payment data.
- Theft and sale of corporate data.
- Cyberextortion (demanding money to prevent a threatened attack).
- Ransomware attacks (a type of cyber extortion).
- Cryptojacking (where hackers mine cryptocurrency using resources they do not own).
- Cyberespionage (where hackers access government or company data).
Bonnyville RCMP has given out the following tip for individuals to protect themselves from cyber attacks:
- Don’t reuse passwords, change them often, and be sure to use a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters to create a strong one!
- Many websites, especially social media platforms, offer the option of multi-factor authentication. Multi-factor authentication makes it more difficult for criminals to access your accounts by needing more than one piece of identifying information. When this is an option take advantage of it!
- Review privacy settings regularly in order to control who can see what personal information is posted to your profile.
- Buy from reputable sources and don’t let unbeatable prices cloud your judgment.
- Avoid conducting financial transactions via public Wi-Fi.
- Install updates on your devices as soon as you’re prompted. Updates fix security issues.
- Phishing is a commonly used tactic for cybercrime. Phishing messages ask you to validate the information by clicking links and may threaten you with legal action. Verify legitimacy by calling the company directly.
Alberta RCMP accounts will be posting Cybercrime reminders and tips, with the hashtag #CyberSafety for the whole month of November.
