5 Cyber Threats: World's Biggest Concern

Today the world has become completely dependant on the web. From buying a kitchen set to concluding a multi-million deal is done over the internet, there is always this mounting fear of what could happen if all this gazillions of classified and private information goes into wrong hands.

The world isn’t just under the threat of hacking attacks on the data centers or endemic computer viruses but there is always a creeping concern about the further generations getting crippled due to overdependence on the internet.

Let’s take a closer look at those perilous threats that cyber crime and internet as a whole poses at us.

1. The Dark Hour

There is hardly any organization which is not connected to the great web, either directly or indirectly. To an extent it is possible for any individual to access data stored in any server across the globe. Even though organizations boast about being fool proofed, there is always some or the other loop hole that gets overlooked. And then there is electricity and power plant, the back-bone of a country’s economy, even those are connected to the web. For instance, an attack on the power controllers or major power stations of a country can hamper its whole economy; force the country into darkness and a virtual paralysis for days together. It is a terrible thing to imagine.

2. Moving the Mass

With more and more social networking sites and blogging applications gaining popularity it is getting easier for people to reach the mass and present their thoughts. Thoughts and voices get viral over the internet pretty quickly. Protest groups use the network to the fullest extent in provoking the mass and encompassing more and more supporters. Remember the London Riots of 2011, how messages sent through the Blackberry Messengers had brought millions of protestors on road and caused a real chaos for the city authorities.

3. Children of the Web Age

Technology, otherwise a boon, can often go hideously adverse to cripple the society and rip it from its roots. It is already apparent that the present generation is extremely dependant on the internet and its conveniences; hence the generations to come would be further dependant. Under certain circumstances, something like politics or democracy face a grave danger. People will deny voting, unless there is a fully functioning web ballot.

4. Hack Attack 

Intrusion and interception is not an alien to any paradigm of communication. Computers, business machines and cell phone networks, everything has been attacked by hackers already. Apple, which had always been certain about its imperceptible security, also faced reality when recently more than 600,000 Apple computers were infected with the Flashback Trojan. An average hacker earns about $1,000 to $5,000 per day and a single attack can cause an equivalent loss to an individual victim, reports Digg. Hence it is strongly recommended to have effective security tools installed on the devices which are used over the network.

5.  Dying Privacy

With all those vehicles of Google taking pictures of street and houses and all your personal information available on your bank portal and Facebook, there is barely any room for privacy or confidentiality over the internet. CISPA, a cyber security act proposed by the US House of Representative declares that the information available to the internet companies will be freely accessible to the federal agencies to prevent cyber crime. Though the intentions of the government might be genuine, but there goes your privacy. Imagine all this information about billions of people, if gone into wrong hands can cause indescribable threat to the society.