Influencer and consultant Leon Hawk explains why cybersecurity is the most underrated industry

"Safety first", for thousands of years this has been the guiding principle of mankind. Why, because people love safety. Safety at work, the safety of healthcare and safety of financials. But what about our safety and security online?

According to a study, only every hundredth person is concerned with their safety online. Whether it's data protection or antivirus programs, these dangerous aspects of our increasingly digitalized world are still completely underestimated.

Without questioning, many people disclose sensitive data such as bank account details or identity card data and upload them somehow and somewhere for supposed security checks. And wherever electronic end devices are connected to the Internet, this data is "permanently online" - and in the case of poor protection they can be accessed immediately. It’s the digital identity of a person. Equally sensitive data is processed by companies. This includes data such as construction plans, contracts, process data, financial data, personal data and much more. Documents with which every company stands or falls.

Why cybersecurity will become necessary for every household in the world.

According to a study, every household in today's increasingly digitalized world has more than 5 digital household devices.

The smart digitally networked devices include online control systems for shutters, televisions, lights or heatings, refrigerators or lawnmower robots, smartphones, tablets or surveillance cameras and systems.

In the future, every household will be dependent on a certain degree of security for their personal privacy and digital infrastructure.

The faster technology advances, the more dependent each individual household will become on it. But what if every single household can suddenly become a target for cyber criminals. What if households worldwide become the target of data theft, hacker attacks and data extortion.

How will a country or state be able to protect its citizens from such a gigantic threat ? The honest answer is, nobody can. Sooner or later, everyone will be confronted with the issues of digital security. Better too early than too late. There is no telling about what psychological effects the intrusion into a person's digital privacy could have.

Every Industry is dependent on cybersecurity -

In the future the sensitive internal documents, which are often the secret of the company's success, will be completely stored on computers connected to the Internet. This is why various criminal structures targeted them for a long time. Although companies and their IT departments are anxious to ensure that all systems are secure and, if possible, unassailable with their existing cybersecurity, in practice this often seems to be quite different.

The damage each year caused by cyber attacks runs into the trillions. About 60 billion Euros per year, only in Germany, Europe-wide the damages are estimated to be over 400 billion Euros.

Often companies do not even know that their data has already been tapped by cyber criminals.

Small and medium-sized companies in particular are affected, as they have less budget available for the security of their digital infrastructure and IT security.

This is also the reason why many small and medium-sized companies in particular are becoming targets of attacks in the digital and IT sector. Thats why no company should ever underestimate the danger of cyber attacks. Many companies and their IT departments are not able to protect themselves of this kind of attacks on their companies safety and security.

Cyber Security Trends and how you can prevent yourself from getting attacked

To protect yourself from cyber attacks as an IT lender, it is essential to understand how and where you are most vulnerable. Because if you know your weaknesses, you will be able to prepare yourself against future dangers and attacks.

One trend is the increasing number of worldwide users of well known cyber security software programs from big companies for the private end user.

Names like Avira, Avast, Kaspersky or McAfee. These names are familiar to most people.

In order to get a basis of protection against attacks by computer viruses or trojans, it is important for everyone to at least deal with certain basics of these programs.

With a basis virus protection program of these companies you basically can do nothing wrong. Depending on your needs, you can adapt the scope of the respective software packages individually to your personal household or company needs.

However, One thing is for sure. The industry of cyber security is becoming increasingly complex.

Everyone should deal with the topic in time. Otherwise it can become expensive or even dangerous for your digital security and identity.

It's better to invest a little bit of money in digital security than paying the high price of being a victim of a successful cyber attack.

The question everyone should ask themselves is not if they can become a victim of a cyber attack, but when.