4 Ways Hackers Can Disrupt Your Life

If a hacker manages to get their grubby hands on your computer, you're going to have a bad time. Of course, how bad of a time you have depends on your hacker's intentions. There are several things hackers can do to harm you, here are four of the most common ways hackers can disrupt your life.

Steal Your Money
Most users worry about hackers stealing their money. Hackers can gain access to your financial accounts if you browse the Internet without using standard security practices such as encrypting your sensitive data, forgetting to log out of your account, or falling for e-mail scams. Even if you practice secure Internet browsing, your sensitive information can still be compromised if a hacker cracks the security of a third party that stores your credit card information.

Steal Your Processing Power
Not every hacker will use their skills to try and steal your money. Some hackers just want to borrow your computer's processing power for their own malicious intentions. By using a Distributed Denial of Service virus, a hacker can use your bandwidth and your computer's CPU to perform attacks and send spam. A computer infected with a DDoS virus will run much slower than normal and get you penalized by your ISP provider because it will appear that you are the one sending spam.

Steal Your Reputation
Using similar hacking procedures as the DDoS virus, a hacker can use your Internet connection to download and store illegal files. This way, a hacker will be able to throw authorities off their virtual trail and instead, lead them to you. This is a common tactic when it comes to downloading child pornography. Hackers have been known to hijack their neighbor's unsecured Wi-Fi signal to download child porn and other illegal files. In a worst-case scenario, your home is approached by the local authorities ready to cart you off for a crime committed by your pervert neighbor.

The Cost of Security
If the world did not have any hackers, then there would be no need to spend money on antivirus software and other security measures. Cyber security is a lucrative industry. For example, in 2011-2012, the U.S. federal government spent $328 million on writing code to protect their military's networks. Businesses and individuals also pour lots of money into network security, and if you have ever spent any money on cyber security, then you would agree that there are many other things that you would rather spend your money on.

Heart of Texas Network Consultants stays on top of the latest threats from hackers, and we can offer you and your business security solutions like our Unified Threat Management tool that will provide your network with a strong firewall to help deter hackers. Heart of Texas Network Consultants understands that nobody likes spending money on network security, which is why we make our security solutions affordable. The value of cyber security is evident when DDoS viruses are prevented, your online accounts are safe, and you're not blamed for downloading illegal files.