Cybercrime is becoming an ever more serious problem. As we carry out more of our day-to-day activities online, the risk of cybercrime grows substantially. This threat was echoed in the recent hacks into the US military Twitter account and to Sony Pictures. Cybercrime is becoming an increasingly destructive type of crime that is leaving us questioning the safety of our online information.
The recent hack into the US military Twitter account caused a major threat to national security; the hack that was carried out by ISIL supporters not only caused embarrassment for the US but also threw into question worldwide security measures. The hackers stole numerous personnel files as well as private military strategies during the hack and took over the US military twitter feed for hours before they could take back control of the account.
Not only has national security measures been tested in the last year but so has many celebrities’ dignities, as we saw bouts of cybercrime hit the A-list world and numerous private photo collections being leaked from the cloud. It is estimated that over 625 million internet users currently make use of cloud storage, meaning we are all just as much at risk as Jennifer Lawrence of having our files leaked to the world!
Our increasing dependence on digital data as well as the accessibility of information coupled with the growing platforms to access this information presents us all with a challenge to keep our information safe. If large organisations such as Sony and the US military are prone to cyber attacks, are we all at the mercy of hackers?

What can we do to help prevent these crimes?

From large organisations, to celebrities and to the general population, we must all step up our online security. Authentication methods with technology like biometric scanners and smartcards are on the rise but user credentials like usernames and passwords still remain the easiest and most cost-efficient. Ars Technica recently performed tests that illustrated using nominal computing power, hashed passwords containing less than six characters are cracked within a day, if not within minutes. According to statistics, using eight characters in a password or more will help prevent hacks as permutations of possible passwords increase with every additional character added to it.
Our digital data is increasing in value day by day as we as a generation rely more heavily on digital platforms, meaning the protection of our data becomes more and more important. Backing up our information is a great way to protect data and battle one of the major types of cybercrime, theft.

With the use of backup software, data is not only protected but it is crucial in the facilitation of a speedy recovery of uptime. This recovery should ideally be accomplished by data being immediately accessible. Attix5, expert developer of world-class data protection software provides an array of solutions catering to a wide variety of needs concerning data backup and recovery requirements. Attix5 software caters for the fastest and most effective backup and recovery of both large data sets, as well as those containing millions of small files.
Attix5 have recently released their Pro V8 Peregrine that has been proven to be the fastest backup client on the market. V8 Peregrine, encompasses a new file indexing technology that eradicates the use of outdated DB technology and increases backup speeds of up to 5 times faster than competitive products. Initial backups of millions of files can now be completed in just minutes and even incremental backups will only take a fraction of this time.