Our need to stay connected at all times means, telephones have never been more popular – 95% of UK households now own a mobile phone, compared with just 16% back in 1997, according to figures from Statista, a leading provider of market and consumer data.
But if most of us carry a mobile around with us and the analogue phone system is due to be switched off by 2025, where does that leave the good, old landline?
Internet trolls are everywhere – just as some people turn into psychopaths the second they get behind the wheel of car, others lose all sense of perspective the second they get online.
This strange breed get a bang out of causing arguments or, even worse, causing others personal anguish, safe in the knowledge they’ll likely never be found, such is the level on anonymity you can have online.
It’s a phenomenon that isn’t a million miles from the world of disinformation, and the two can often go hand-in-hand if there’s a conspiracy or half-truth to spread. The last 12 months has given trolls a lot of ammunition.
If you or your business is being plagued by these online idiots, here’s how to handle internet trolls.
Some people are always trying to find new ways to con each other out of money, from unscrupulous used car salesmen ‘clocking’ the mileage on their motors to internet hackers sending out phishing emails to unsuspecting consumers.
And then there are good old-fashioned phone scams, so here are the top five to look out for and avoid…
Phishing is a type of online fraud in which cyber criminals send emails or instant messages pretending to be from a reputable company or person, in an attempt to access sensitive information, such as login credentials or account details.
Things have evolved since the days of emails promising jackpot payouts on the Nigerian lottery, and phishing emails generally come in the form of an official-looking correspondence from your bank or an organisation like PayPal.
And this increased level of sophistication brings with it an increased level of threat – even just clicking a link within an email can send a bug into your system that can access any sensitive data you have stored on your hard drive.
We’re living in an age where half-truths matter more than people’s lives. From the NHS £350 million a week bonus being writ large on the side of a bus to the latest disinformation on Covid-19 vaccines, the truth appears to be an abject concept only there to be manipulated to fit your own narrative.
Bleak time indeed. Even more so when you consider that that individual fake news stories were more likely to be shared on Facebook than stories from mainstream news organisations.
