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Digital Impersonation as a Service: The Growing Underground Market for Renting Your Identity

In the rapidly evolving world of cybercrime, one of the most disturbing and lesser-known threats emerging today is something I call “Digital Impersonation as a Service,” a term that may sound like the plot of a science fiction film but is, in reality, a growing underground economy where your identity—your name, your profile picture, your verified social media account, your email address, even your voice or face through deepfake technology—can be hijacked, packaged, and rented out to criminals as if it were a piece of software or a subscription service, and the terrifying part is that you don’t need to be a celebrity, politician, or billionaire to be a target; ordinary students, working professionals, and small business owners are now finding their identities cloned and “leased” on dark web marketplaces to anonymous actors who use them for scams, fraud, disinformation campaigns, and even cross-border crimes, often without the victim realizing until it’s far too late; unlike traditional ...
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Silent SIM Swap: How Mobile Number Hijacking is Becoming the Gateway to Your Digital Life

In today’s hyper-connected world, our mobile number has quietly become one of the most critical keys to our digital life, serving as the foundation for everything from online banking and payment apps to email accounts, social media profiles, and work logins, yet most people don’t realize just how dangerous it can be when that number falls into the wrong hands, and one of the fastest-growing cybercrime tactics that exploits this dependency is something known as the “Silent SIM Swap,” a malicious technique where attackers trick or bribe telecom insiders into transferring your phone number from your existing SIM card to a new one in their possession without your knowledge, effectively hijacking your number and intercepting every call, text, and most importantly, every One Time Password (OTP) or verification code sent to you, which are often the final gatekeepers to your most sensitive accounts; unlike traditional hacks that require breaching your device or network, a SIM swap happens at t...
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Public Wi-Fi: The Hidden Playground for Hackers

Public Wi-Fi has become such an ordinary part of our daily digital lives that most of us barely think twice before connecting to the free hotspot at an airport, café, shopping mall, hotel, railway station, college campus, or even in public parks, because it feels convenient, fast, and most importantly, free, yet behind this friendly convenience lies one of the most underestimated cybersecurity dangers in the modern world, a hidden playground for hackers where unsuspecting users often serve up their sensitive information on a silver platter without realizing that they are essentially broadcasting their private data in an environment where strangers—some of whom may have malicious intentions—are free to listen in, manipulate, or even hijack their activities, and the problem stems from the fact that most public Wi-Fi networks, especially the completely open ones that don’t require a password, operate without strong encryption, meaning the data you send and receive is often transmitted “in...
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The Rise of Cyber Extortion Beyond Ransomware

In the early days of the internet, the idea of someone demanding money from you through purely digital means seemed like something out of a futuristic thriller, yet as technology has advanced and more of our lives have moved online, cyber extortion has evolved from a rare, isolated occurrence into a sophisticated and rapidly growing criminal industry that now extends far beyond the traditional image of ransomware locking up your files until you pay a fee, because while ransomware remains one of the most well-known forms of cyber extortion, it has mutated into a multi-pronged ecosystem of threats that can involve stealing your sensitive data, threatening to release it publicly, launching sustained attacks to disable your online presence, or even harassing you personally until you give in to demands, and the most alarming part is that these tactics are no longer limited to attacks on big corporations or government agencies but now frequently target small businesses, schools, local govern...
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Misinformation, Fake News, and Social Media Manipulation

In today’s hyperconnected world, the ability to instantly share information across continents is both a marvel of human progress and a potential weapon of mass deception, because while the internet and social media platforms have enabled ordinary people to broadcast their voices to millions without the need for traditional gatekeepers like publishers or broadcasters, they have also created an environment where misinformation and fake news can spread faster than verified facts, and in many cases, the falsehood travels so far and wide before the truth catches up that it becomes embedded in the public consciousness, influencing beliefs, decisions, and even shaping political, social, and economic outcomes; misinformation, which is false or misleading information shared without harmful intent, and disinformation, which is deliberately false information created to deceive, both thrive on the architecture of modern communication networks that reward engagement over accuracy, meaning posts tha...
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Cybersecurity for Small Businesses and Startups

Cybersecurity for small businesses and startups is an area often underestimated, as many owners and even employees assume that only large corporations or government agencies are prime targets for hackers, when in reality the majority of cyberattacks globally are aimed at small and medium enterprises because attackers know these organizations often lack the budget, dedicated IT staff, and robust security systems that larger organizations have, making them easier to breach; the common misconception that “we are too small to be worth hacking” leads to a dangerous lack of preparation, and cybercriminals exploit this by launching phishing campaigns, ransomware attacks, and business email compromise schemes specifically tailored to such businesses, knowing that even a single incident can cripple operations or permanently destroy customer trust; for a startup, where growth depends heavily on credibility, an early breach can be catastrophic—not only because of direct financial losses, but also...
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Online Shopping Frauds and E-Commerce Safety

Online shopping has transformed the way people in India and around the world buy products and services, making it possible to order clothes, electronics, groceries, and even furniture from the comfort of one’s home, often with attractive discounts, easy returns, and doorstep delivery, but as convenient as e-commerce has become, it has also opened the door to a rising wave of online shopping frauds that target unsuspecting consumers, especially those who are not yet fully aware of the tricks used by cybercriminals to steal money or personal information; these scams take many forms, from fake shopping websites and counterfeit products to payment frauds, non-delivery of goods, and account takeovers, and they affect everyone—from students ordering affordable gadgets to professionals buying work equipment and families purchasing household items; the key problem is that the same factors that make e-commerce convenient—speed, automation, and anonymity—also make it easier for criminals to expl...
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