This book was written for the four billion users of technology to provide a more secure passage as they navigate through cyberspace. It is not highly technical, and is designed to raise awareness of the many factors that facilitate cybercrimes. This anecdotal journey, provided by real people, organizations, and governments helps readers to better comprehend the illicit massive wealth transfer, ideological differences, and state-crafted cyber-warfare that continues to increase on an exponential basis – irrespective of efforts to thwart cybercriminals.
The author, whose introduction to bits and bytes (0’s & 1’s) as a programmer, envisioned only good when working for several decades in the computer industry.
He has been called a technological optimist. Social engineering is not a new concept – it is a part of human nature used to convince others to accommodate our wishes and desires, often with no intent to cause harm. With cybercriminals, this is not the case! Using social engineering, cybercriminals have morphed technology into a weapon – a means to do “right well” for themselves by inflicting harm on others. For those accessing cyberspace, Christopher offers guidance to develop an awareness of cybercriminal activity and the risks of being socially engineered when accessing electronic communication. Human nature and human curiosity are characteristics that evoke certain emotions social engineers prey upon – fear, greed, obedience, urgency, guilt, and helpfulness.
The author’s new theory – RESCAT (Required Elements for a Social Engineered Cyber Attack Theory) – explores the decision processes users of technology undertake when these emotions are manipulated by a malicious cyberattack. Their reactions and decisions will determine if they will be victimized. The author tells it like it really is – the Pros and Cons of passwords, Cloud service providers, multi-factor authentication, password managers, cryptocurrencies, types of ransomware, phishing and spear phishing, and much more. He questions the integrity of many apps being used, and how users are being placed at great risk.
He also questions whether adoption of technology during early stages in our lives could be interfering with the development of our cognitive skills, and explains why encouraging children in their earliest years to grasp the world of technology may be counter-productive to how their brains develop. Christopher also offers important insight into the question “what changes need to be made to ensure that people of all generations can gain a better comprehension of how to be less vulnerable to cyberattacks, and becoming a cybervictim”?
This book is also about what happens when safeguards don’t keep us cyber-safe, and what actions individuals, corporations, and governments need to take to protect users of technology from the predatory practices of cybercriminals.
