In the minds of many, cybercrime was just something that was poorly depicted in movies from the past couple of decades, but the general public is starting to take it much more seriously now that major attacks are becoming a regular occurrence.

There are a number of reasons why this point in time has brought about so many online attacks. One of the most obvious ones is that many of us are moving more of what we do online or into the digital world, and the criminals are just following the trail. This digital shift applies to our communication and data, but it also applies to our financial transactions. The chances are high that you’re using less physical money and more digital payment solutions and credit or debit cards.

Since your data and money are moving around digitally, a criminal doesn’t need to make contact with you or your property in a personal way to inflict damage. Because of this, they can also attack more people in less time, and if you’re a criminal, that’s an attractive proposition.

Additionally, we often talk in a positive way about how easy it has become to learn new tech skills online, but there is a dark side to online education, as well. While there are plenty of ways to learn useful technical skills online, the Internet has also become a haven for cybercriminals to recruit others, share techniques, and coordinate attacks. Whether they’re a prior criminal or not, someone with bad intentions can learn a lot with just a few targeted online searches. The publicity that many attacks have been getting could even encourage certain individuals to do this research and see what’s involved in making the attacks happen.

There’s certainly no end in sight to cybercrime. As we continue to rely on digital solutions to an even greater extent and the systems containing this data continue to be analyzed from top to bottom by criminals, we can count on our perception of crime to become even more digital than it is today.

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