Confession time: Once, I broke into a house.
Wait. Before you judge me, it was my house 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 underutilized criminal muscle.
I went to the backyard and stared at the sliding glass door for a few minutes, silently demanding that he let me through. Finally I got a pair of pruning shears, prayed for them to open the door, and unhooked the inside latch with a stick. The air conditioning hit my face. Success.
I know, I’m a normal John Dillinger.
I was pretty proud of myself until my parents came home, found out what I had done, and rightfully panicked when they realized how easy it was to get 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 aren’t 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, the offshore law firm Appleby (based in Bermuda) admitted that its computer records were compromised in 2016 after a cyberattack. And the consequences are only beginning to become clear.
The media compare it to the Panama Papers debacle.
Appleby is warning its clients (some of the world’s wealthiest individuals and organizations, including Fortune 500 companies) that this “data security incident” may result in the leakage of their private information.
And I can’t help but wonder why a law firm dealing with such sensitive information would be so open to attack. (Too bad he didn’t have a 15 year old testing 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 staff about a ransomware attack targeting schools across the country.
At least three states have already been contacted by cybercriminals demanding money to prevent the disclosure of stolen private information.
Cybercrime is clearly a massive problem. Damage costs are expected to reach $6 trillion annually by 2021. That’s up from $3 trillion just two years ago.
It is therefore not surprising that global spending on cybersecurity products and services is forecast to exceed $1 trillion over 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 make yourself an easy target. For example, use different passwords for your logins. Encrypt any confidential communication.
- Invest, invest, invest. Considering the massive implications of this cyber war, it’s time to get ahead of the game. Cybersecurity spending is growing, which promises to make this a booming industry. Already this year, the ETFMG Prime Cyber Security ETF (NYSE: HACK) is up 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 the end, it helps you to be aware of this problem so that you can protect your wealth and make it grow at the same time. I can’t think of a reason not to.