Using Common Sense to Stay Safe From Future Cyber Crime

Random House

When we hear the term “computer hacker,”  many of us envision a computer geek in the basement of his or her parents’ basement, laughing maniacally about their achievements.

That’s not even close to the reality. 

Marc Goodman‘s new book “Future Crimes” looks at how the digital age is changing crimes and criminals. Goodman speaks with WDET Associate Producer Samuel Hansen about the growing influence of organized crime in the cyber world, and what steps could be taken to make us all safer.

“The more data you produce, the more organized crime is happy to consume.” –Goodman’s Law

Here are some key takeaways from their conversation.

• Organized cyber crime. Goodman tells Hansen cyber crime is rapidly becoming taken over by organized crime groups. 
• Big data, big opportunity for cyber criminals, Governments and large corporations are particularly enticing to criminals, because they hold ton of data on citizens and customers. Goodman says regardless of how strong a security system may be, criminals may continue working to break through those measures to get to the data.
• A World Cyber Health Organization? Goodman does say there are steps that we can take to make ourselves safer. He suggests the world stop approaching cyber crime through traditional policing (it’s pretty hard for a Detroit cop to arrest a hacker in Russia after all) and instead treat cyber threats as if they are diseases. He advocates for creating a World Health Organization for cyber health.
• Hold Silicon Valley accountable. There will also need to be a change in accountability in Silicon Valley according to Goodman. 

“Use common sense. Stop. Think. Then connect.” –Marc Goodman.

Click on the audio link above to hear the full conversation.