By Chidi Anumudu
Your digital space is the environment you are in whenever and wherever you make use of digital devices or equipment. Examples of digital devices and equipment include:
Your phone – Android, iPhones, ordinary GSM Phone, etc.
Your computer – Laptop, Desktop, Tablet, etc.
The bank automated teller machine (ATM)
Point of Sale (POS) terminals in your neighbourhood
So, in a nutshell, your digital space is the presence you command when you use a digital product or service and when you use the internet or an intranet or any network for that matter, even Wi-Fi.
In today’s fast-paced world it is hard to imagine that anyone of us can survive without occupying significant digital space or without having impressive digital footprints.
The more our collective digital space and footprints increase, the greater our individual and collective exposure to the criminal activities of the ‘bad boys’ in the digital world.
An adage in igbo language loosely translates into English as: “It is only a tree that gets a death threat and remains in the same location.” What’s the point? It is imperative that you take action to protect your digital space. Why so?
WHY PROTECT YOUR DIGITAL SPACE?
It is a matter of life and death. If your digital space (DS) becomes compromised your very life could be threatened. For example, if you divulge certain personal information online you could inadvertently give some murderous criminals the motive and the know-how to target you.
Keep your money and other resources safe. Many predators in the digital space are out to fleece unwary persons. There’s no gainsaying that the digital space in Nigeria and beyond is almost overwhelmed by remorseless criminals seeking to defraud persons and organizations. Statistics released by the police and agencies like the EFCC are quite frightening.
Safeguard your loved ones. Your family, friends, colleagues, associates, and others may stand a huge risk of being targeted by cyber-criminals if the contacts in your phones are exposed.
Sometimes, vital correspondence between you and these your significant others may be easily accessible in your devices; bits of information pieced together from them can jeopardize the lives and assets of your friends and family.
Your business/career may be compromised. As computers and their derivative technologies improve our work in terms of quality and time effectiveness, we become more and more dependent on them. This dependency in turn makes us more vulnerable to malicious digital abuse which may truncate our career or liquidate our business.
Your reputation may be maligned. Can you imagine what will happen if your account or website is taken over and used to disseminate or advertise porn? That would be terrible, wouldn’t it?
Your system could become a bot. what is a bot? A bot is a computer or related device whose control has been taken over from the rightful owner by hackers for use in attacking and/or spying on other systems. In the event that an incident is being investigated and it is found that your computer or device was the originating platform, that no doubt would create huge issues for you.
You can be taken hostage digitally. Some hackers may succeed in launching a ransom ware into your computer or device and then ask you to pay a certain sum or perpetrate a certain action else you lose your critical information or have it maliciously publicised.
There are countless other ways that infringement on your digital space can harm you. It depends on the motive of the bad boys in the cyber-space. You need to have an idea about these fellows in order to empower yourself.
WHO ARE THE BAD BOYS?
The bad boys are digital predators. A predator is an animal that targets others with the intention to use them as food. Applying that definition in the digital space helps to explain that the bad boys are users of digital technologies whose sole objective is to target other users in order to satisfy selfish goals and desires.
These bad boys – mind you the expression ‘bad boys’ is broad in usage because it includes boys, men, girls, and women – are ubiquitous. They are in every country of the world and because of the internet and the services it supports; the activities of digital bad boys do not recognize national boundaries. A criminal in Russia can target a prospective victim in Nigeria real-time.
Most of these bad boys are motivated by the greedy desire to eke out ill- gotten money from hapless, unwary victims.
Some others want to satisfy lewd sexual appetites. There are also those who use their nefarious skills to advance a cause they believe in.
Some claim they do it for fun. There are some that are sponsored by organizations to steal business secrets from rivals or competitors. Even states sponsor some bad boys to engage in digital espionage and aggression.
Since there are a wide variety of bad boys in the digital space, it makes sense that you become aware of the various specific weapons they can unleash against you.
HOW CAN THE BAD BOYS HARM YOU?
#1. They can steal your airtime and data. If you are careless and allow every dick and harry access to your computer and other devices it is possible for an unscrupulous person to launch a malware into it. The malware will then give him the leeway to use your airtime and data at will. And you may never find out.
#2. Your personal information – passwords, credit/debit card numbers and security codes, identity number, social security number, bank details, e-mail addresses, etc – may be harvested. Anyone who illegally acquires your personal information may use it directly or sell it to a third party.
#3. The money in your account(s) could be siphoned away. If a bad boy gets in possession of your bank details or your credit/debit card details, then you can be sure that they will enrich themselves at your expense.
#4. You may become a victim of blackmail. If your private online activities are infiltrated by malicious persons there is a high possibility of you being blackmailed. This can happen even if you have done nothing wrong. For example your pictures and videos can be tweaked by means of commonplace apps to produce visuals that put you in a compromised situation.
#5. The bad boys make use of emails. They may send a seemingly harmless email with an attachment. If you open the attachment, you would inadvertently introduce a malware into your system. From that point you would be at their mercy (and they have no mercy).
#6. Links to websites or other online resources are exploited by cyber criminals. You may be sold on some sensational proposition and then urged to pursue your interest by clicking on a link. Doing so will simply open and execute a virus in your device. The essence of the whole thing is to give them unhindered access to your online assets.
#7. Social media platforms are also very useful tools for cyber-predators. They may ask you to include them as your friends. Depending on the settings you deploy on your page these your “friends” can lay hold on a trove of critical personal information about you and your relatives and genuine friends.
#8. Automated Teller Machines (ATM), Points of Sale (POS), and other smart card readers can be compromised with skimming devices that are attached to them. So once you insert your debit/credit card a criminal is receiving your pin or password. Such information can also be obtained over your shoulders if you are not careful when you key it in. To be continued!
Chidi Anumudu is founder-manager of a cyber security company based in Lagos.
He is of the ’75 class
