Life-hacked: Internet Security and Hacking

In a society where the technology surrounding cyber crime is developing daily, and internet hacking is more prevalent than ever, people aren’t as informed as they should be. Internet hacking has become so common that people hardly take notice of it anymore, whether it’s to do with your personal information or the money in your bank account, being hacked is basically inevitable.

Most websites these days use ‘cookies’ and, without hesitation, people consent to using them on virtually every website visited with a vague knowledge of what they actually are. A cookie, as described by Google, one of the most active users of cookies on the web, is “a small piece of text sent to your browser by a website you visit. It helps the website to remember information about your visit, like your preferred language and other settings.” So basically cookies are made to improve the user’s experience on the internet, to make it easier, faster and more enjoyable to use by making each individual’s use of the internet personal and tailor-made to that person.

Despite what society is told, could cookies actually be a negative thing? Well, short answer, yes. Cookies allow websites to gather personal information of the user to personalise their experience upon their next visit. The use of this information, once one consents to using cookies, is out of their hands. Although there are some sites that outline the intentions of their cookie policy, others don’t and that is where the issue of security arises and where people’s vulnerability is out in the open ready to be targeted.

Websites using cookies use our information not only to tailor-make our internet experience but also to tailor-make an attack to infiltrate the device being used, thus gaining access to all of the information present on that device. For example when a website or hacker sees that someone has visited a certain website they are able to use the information available as an ‘in’ to hacking that person.

Someone who is all too familiar with the danger of hacking is the Irish influencer James Kavanagh who was hacked in 2016.

“I got hacked while I was in the back of a taxi. I started to get emails from my social platforms asking me to confirm if I wanted to change my password. In my head I was like “eh, no, I don’t”. Someone had logged themselves into my accounts and to ensure I wouldn’t get back in, they were changed all the passwords.

“They dissolved my Snapchat completely – I lost thousands of followers in the blink of an eye.

“And the irony of it all is that it happened on the 4th of July – the day I LOST my independence.”

Cyber crime is completely changing how crime is carried out. It has huge appeal to the criminals of today; you are almost completely anonymous, aside from your IP (Internet Protocol) which can give up your location if not properly encoded, it requires minimum effort for maximum effect and, most appealing of all, there is little to no chance of being caught if careful enough. It’s the perfect crime, and now that essentially every business or organistion is online and encased in “complex” security systems, everyone is a target.

Unfortunately, contrary to popular opinion, one is not safer with more internet security. We, as a nation, have not even caught up with the hacking technology of today, let alone surpassed it in terms of complexity. Hackers and hacking systems are consistently developing new malware to penetrate systems. Even some of the biggest companies in Ireland have not developed the software to beat the hackers and are constantly chasing them to prevent being hacked.

Despite the millions of euros that go into developing antivirus and security software, companies have been unsuccessful. The severity of the situation has been completely overlooked. Even though, from the outside, technology seems to be evolving daily, the reality is that the surface hasn’t even been scratched with regards to security for all the new developments. People have seemed to have been blind to the fact that you can translate any crime into the new world of technology, and it’s not just innocent bystanders being targeted; government officials, banks and celebrities are among the main targets. In November of this year, it was revealed that the Taoiseach (the Irish Prime Minister) and six other members of the cabinet had been targeted by notorious cyber criminals and had their passwords to various sites stolen and sold on the dark-web.

Although we are very behind in security technology, there are companies trying to relieve the threat. James Kavanagh, after his “hacking hell” was recommended to change his passwords on a monthly basis which is crucial because, as Kavanagh mentioned; “hacking is at an all time high, so it’s necessary, especially for anyone who considers social media their bread & butter”, he was also recommended the application Dashlane, which aims to manage your passwords in a secure and simple way. Dashlane is very highly regarded in the world of internet security and has been described as “life-changingly great” by the New York Times.

Technology is at its peak, is considered a positive thing and is embraced by the majority of the world who have access to it, in saying that, society has to be aware of its implications and not sit by the wayside and just let it happen.