Over the past few days, security on the Internet has been a major topic in the media. The reports were mainly about cyber attacks in Russia and the USA. The Russian President spoke of almost 25 million cyber attacks during the 2018 World Cup. On the other side of the world there is the blame that Russia directly influenced the election of the US President. These are hacker activities and cyber attacks at the highest level, mostly targeting governments or large corporations. But on a small scale, it is often not an attack on the home computer that is supposed to paralyze everything, but a data misuse that happens mainly in secret. The social network Facebook, for example, had to justify itself against serious accusations because it had passed on user data without permission. In order to better protect itself in the future, the following article explains the fraudsters' actions and protective measures.

The own data

The Internet is full of fraudulent platforms and has numerous means of accessing personal data. This no longer only refers to credit card numbers or pins, but to private interests and information. Social networks are financed by advertising. But this does not only apply to advertising, which is displayed next to the newsfeed. By sharing information about a person, third parties are able to create perfectly customized advertisements. This is then displayed to the user when opening the Internet. This type of data misuse is aimed at presenting tailored advertising to the user. In most cases a purchase is made as a result. Thus it is no longer necessary to steal the account data in a complex process. The process today is similar to what cookies do. The cookies on a page remember the input. These are however indicated and one can reject them, the resale of the data happens without the knowledge of the customers.

The security of financial means

However, this is not the only form of fraud, because on the one hand not all people have a user account with a social network and there are fraudsters who only target bank details. The most used means are phishing mails. According to the security experts at Kaspersky, almost half of all phishing attacks last year, about 47 percent, were aimed at money. The login data for a bank account is stolen by informing the user by e-mail to log on to his account. But the problem is that the e-mail does not originate from the bank and the page with the login is not the real bank page. Although clear forgeries can occasionally be identified, other cases were perfect forgeries, which were one hundred percent identical to the real bank page. Once the data for the account is entered, it is in the hands of the fraudsters and they have full access to the account and its funds.

Mobile devices are more vulnerable

The mobile phone has made many things easier, unfortunately also for fraudsters. There have already been cases of counterfeit apps from banks in the online store. The images of the fake applications look the same as the real ones, as does the use of the app. After the bank app was downloaded and the registration was completed, the account data was in the hands of the fraudsters. Many banks now only use apps to generate a tan for a bank transfer. Of course there is only one app of the bank and not several. But uninformed customers often don't know which one is the real one. Another reason why mobile devices are not as secure as home computers is that they do not have sufficient virus software. In 2016 alone, more than 40,000 Android devices were infected by a Trojan, which was inactive until the user started a bank cap. Then the virus became active and showed a fake login window of several bank and payment sites.

Fraud in the entertainment industry

In the meantime, users have become aware of how extensively they need to protect themselves against fraud on the Internet. After the scandals of the social networks, the cyber attacks on government institutions or hacker attacks on e-mail providers, people have been shaken up. Even the entertainment industry is not safe from hackers. For example, Sony Pictures was targeted by foreign hackers who stole pay slips, social security numbers, employee birth dates and other corporate documents. There are also several known cases of fraud at online casinos. On the one hand, the details of the person were resold, the deposited money was stolen, winning games on the site was not possible because the algorithms were rewritten or a payout after a game was won was not feasible. Such websites are still online and continue to attract new users by publishing fake customer ratings. The easiest way to protect yourself against this type of scam is not to deposit money, as licensed online casinos offer play money. It is similar with sport bets, which become ever more popular like on-line Casinos in Germany. In particular, a valid license for gambling must be observed. This is the characteristic, for a safe, examined and respectable offerer. Further information in addition is to be found on https://www.bonus.net/ca/deals/.

How best to protect yourself against fraud on the Internet

Everything is possible on the Internet. Like online casinos, for example, which attract new customers again and again with fake customer ratings, other fraudsters also take the lead. Counterfeit ratings can also be found in online shops. The only efficient means against this type of fraud is extensive research into the product, offer and provider. With online casinos and betting providers, the decisive security feature is the licenses for gambling. In the case of social networks, the data protection information is in small print and you often have to search for a long time in the account settings. In addition, one has to deal comprehensively with the topic of data protection. This applies not only to Facebook, but also to WhatsApp, Xing, LinkedIn, Snapchat and many other platforms. Only a professional virus program, which is permanently active and needs to be updated, can help against viruses. Bank data must never be passed on by e-mail and a bank will never ask its customers to do so. It is up to the user to inform himself about data protection and to act with caution on the Internet.