The cybercrime crisis can make you rich
Confession time: Once, I broke into a house.
Wait. Before you judge me, it was my home and I was 15 years old.
Look, I forgot my house key. It was after school, my parents wouldn’t be home for hours … and I was hungry. So instead of just hanging out with the neighbors, I decided to flex my underused criminal muscle.
I went to the backyard and stared at the sliding glass door for a few minutes, silently demanding that he let me pass. Finally, I grabbed some hedge trimmers, opened the door, and unlatched the inside latch with a stick. The air conditioner hit my face. Success.
I know, I’m a normal John Dillinger.
I was quite proud of myself until my parents came home, found out what I had done, and rightly panicked when they realized how easy it was to break into the house. Soon after, we were the proud owners of a state-of-the-art security system.
Fortunately for my family, we were able to realize our vulnerability, and fix it, due to a harmless childish prank.
Unfortunately, most people are not so lucky.
Instead, they only realize how exposed their lives are after an attack has already devastated them.
Take what happened in Bermuda, for example.
Last week, Bermuda-based offshore law firm Appleby admitted that its computer records were compromised in 2016 after a cyberattack. And the consequences are just beginning to become clear.
The media is likening it to the Panama Papers debacle.
Appleby cautions its clients – some of the world’s wealthiest individuals and organizations, including the Fortune 500 companies – that this “data security incident” may lead to a leak of your private information.
And I can’t help but wonder why a law firm that deals with such sensitive information would be so exposed to attack. (Too bad he didn’t have a 15-year-old researching his defenses for vulnerabilities.)
But this is not an isolated incident.
For this day … hundreds of millions of Americans have been hacked by cybercriminals, and more than 12 new people have been hacked every second.
In fact, earlier this month, the US Department of Education warned teachers, parents, and educational personnel of a ransomware attack targeting schools across the country.
Cybercriminals have already contacted at least three states to demand money to stop the disclosure of stolen private information.
Cybercrime is clearly a huge problem. Damage costs are expected to reach $ 6 trillion annually by 2021. That’s up from $ 3 trillion just two years ago.
So it’s no wonder that global spending on cybersecurity products and services is forecast to exceed $ 1 trillion in the next four years, according to Cybersecurity Ventures.
After all, a massive problem needs a massive solution.
So what does this mean for you? Well, there are two things you can do right now:
- Protect yourself. Learn how to protect your private information, and now. Don’t become an easy target. For example, use different passwords for your logins. Encrypt any sensitive communication.
- Invest, invest, invest. Considering the enormous implications of this cyber war, it is time to get ahead of the game. Cybersecurity spending is on the rise, which promises to make this a booming industry. Already this year, ETFMG Prime Cyber Security ETF (NYSE: HACK) is up about 15%. So now is the time to start investing in companies at the forefront of innovative cybersecurity measures. There is one company in particular that has developed a method to stop hackers in their tracks.
In the end, it helps you to be aware of this problem so that you can protect your wealth and grow it at the same time. I can’t think of a reason not to.