According to sources (Newswire and BusinessNewsAsia.com), a staggering 25.5% of the global population (which translates to roughly 2 billion people) lost money to scams, hacks, and identity theft in the year 2023 alone.

 

Moreover, there were over 353 million people impacted by data breaches (Global Security Mag Online)(ITRC). Furthermore, over 6.06 billion malware attacks were recorded globally in 2023. 

 

This means that roughly 1 in 4 people fell victim to a scam or fraud, while roughly 1 in 23 experienced a hacking incident.

 

In recent years, scammers and hackers have developed new methods to scam or hack unsuspecting individuals by exploiting loopholes in computer systems as well as exploiting human flaws by methods such as social engineering.

 

Every day, new exploits are found and we can expect these figures to rise in the future.

 

Expert recommendations for protection against scammers and hackers:

Protecting your computer system against hackers and scammers is important, as it is often overlooked, and even the smallest vulnerability can be exploited to gain access to your system, thus putting your device and data at risk. 

This section will go through some of the tools recommended by experts in the field that you can use to protect your devices.

 

VirusTotal - VirusTotal is a free website where you can upload files or paste a URL.

It uses multiple antivirus software, such as McAfee, Kaspersky, Avast, BitDefender, and more, to analyse the file/URL to detect malware and malicious content. 

 

Antivirus software - Having good antivirus software installed on your computer or phone is essential to protect your device from harmful files. 

Some popular antivirus software include BitDefender, McAfee, MalwareBytes, Microsoft Defender, and Norton AntiVirus.

 

Aura - Aura is a cybersecurity tool which scans the dark web and will alert you if any information is found, providing you with the option to take action like changing passwords or freezing your credit card to prevent identity theft and fraud.

It also has other useful features such as a VPN, antivirus, identity theft protection, and financial monitoring.

One thing to note is that Aura is a paid software and does not have a free version.

 

Guardio - Guardio is a browser extension that protects users from online threats while browsing. Guardio can block harmful websites such as phishing attempts and other malicious sites.

Guardio is also a paid tool although it does allow a limited, free version which offers basic browser protection, manual data breach scans and pop-up blocking.

 

SpamTitan - SpamTitan is an email security tool which is designed to protect businesses or individuals from phishing attacks as well as other email-based threats such as malware or social engineering attacks.

 

These are just a few recommendations of useful tools to protect your computer or phone that have been promoted by experts (though most of these tools only work on computers), and it is highly recommended to have multiple lines of defence to protect your device and data against online threats.