Building Resilience Against the Psychological Impact of Cybercrime

Over the past years, technology has evolved beyond our measures, kicking off the digital age. Unfortunately, crime has also evolved with it. Cybercrime is not a rare thing anymore; it’s now an alarming reality.

Cybercrime is a harsh thing. Many people lose money from it, others lose identities, and some lose confidence. Whatever form it takes, crime leaves mental and emotional health consequences for the victims.

Specifically, this article will explore the psychological impact of cybercrime and strategies for building resilience against these threats. By doing so, you can better safeguard your mental health against the agonizing threats of cybercrime.

Read more to find out about the forms of cybercrime, its psychological impacts, and how to navigate through them effectively.

The many forms of cybercrime

Fred has had Down’s Syndrome since birth. He’s lived a good life so far. But it all changed when Fred’s mom uploaded a video of him to social media.

What she thought was cute was considered hilarious online. They started making fun of Fred, calling him names and making memes about his condition. Some even began to dig up his name and location and posted the private information online.

Fred’s situation happens all the time across millions of people, even though cyberbullying is technically a crime.

And like crime in the real world, cybercrime has many forms — not just bullying. Cybercrime can be defined as the use of technology or online networks to commit various crimes. There are many different forms of cybercrime, but here are the most relevant:

Hacking. A type of cybercrime for finding weaknesses in a system and to access them. This often happens to businesses but could also happen to people’s personal networks and computers.
Financial crime. This crime involves changing ownership of money without the owner’s knowledge. Hackers combine social engineering with technical hacking techniques to gain access to the victim’s credentials and transfer money.
Phishing. This is an act of sending emails, text messages, or calls to a particular victim to get personal information. The personal information is then used to access important accounts, and often, the end goal is some sort of financial crime.
Cyberbullying. This act of bullying occurs in the digital world through various apps, such as social media. This includes sending, posting, or sharing harmful content about someone else.
Deepfakes. A deepfake is an artificial picture or video created by artificial intelligence (AI). Deepfakes copy other people’s appearances and put them in compromising acts, creating fake videos of them in sexual acts, saying hate speech, and other uncomfortable things.

Understanding the psychological impact of cybercrime

Cybercrime has many far-ranging effects — the most important being the negative psychological impact on its victims. This could range from stress, and even to trust issues, depression, and even changes in behavior.

Understanding the harmful impact of cybercrime helps you address the mental health challenges it creates for the victims. Here are the most common:

Emotional distress

Cybercrime victims become emotionally distressed from having experienced those bad experiences.

Victims may develop anxiety due to their experiences and develop deep vulnerabilities, especially when dealing with technology. They can’t help but fear that it will happen to them again in the future. If not handled properly, it could affect their daily lives and well-being.

Long-term effects of cyber victimization

The psychological effects of cybercrime don’t stop after a couple of weeks or months. Cyber victimization can have a long-term impact on the lives of the victims.

This could lead to chronic stress, depression, and even trust issues. Without proper intervention, this can lead to something even more dangerous and long-lasting. Victims will be more prone to have unstable personal and professional relationships and are very likely to form trust issues and antisocial behavior.

Recognizing the signs of psychological impact

There are a lot of signs when someone is having psychological distress. Recognizing them as early as possible helps them seek support early. Some common indicators of suffering from the psychological impact of cybercrime include:

Changes in behavior
Difficulty in concentrating
Physical symptoms such as headaches and sleep disturbances

Cybercrime victims usually become afraid of people and withdraw socially. They think they can’t trust anyone anymore, disturbing their lives.

Building resilience against cybercrime

Now that you understand the psychological impacts of cybercrime, it’s also important to know how to build cybercrime resilience. As crime evolves, your ways of handling it should also evolve, and building resilience is the key to coping against the waging cybercrime.

Here are some good practices to consider:

Develop coping mechanisms

Cybercrime is a difficult problem in our reality, and statistics show that one in four people has been a victim of cybercrime. In these challenging times, developing a coping mechanism is important to ensure your digital resilience is as strong as ever.

It gives you an outlet and prevents you from getting too stressed. Coping mechanisms that could work in situations like this include various things, such as:

Mindful practices. Things like meditation or deep breathing can help manage stress and anxiety due to being the victims of cybercrime.
Therapy. This is a must after experiencing cybercrime, as guidance from experts will help you cope with what comes after. Look for professional help that suits your therapy preferences.
Support groups. This can connect you with others who have experienced similar situations. Being in groups offers a sense of belonging and understanding while helping you through hard times.

Strengthen digital literacy

The next thing you can do to help build resilience against cybercrime is to strengthen your digital literacy. Digital literacy is the ability to properly use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, or communicate information.

Some basic digital literacy knowledge that you should master are:

Recognizing and knowing various phishing attempts
Using strong passwords
Avoid oversharing personal information in the digital world

Mastering them could help individuals to reduce their feelings of helplessness.

Improved digital skills could also increase confidence and reduce your anxiety when surfing the digital world. Ultimately, improving digital skills also lets you enhance your digital resilience.

For this, learn online safety education, including best practices for protecting your personal information and avoiding scams online. You can also learn more about privacy settings in the cyber world. This will help you understand how to keep your privacy on social media and other online platforms.

Create support networks

The last thing you can do to build resilience and protect yourself from cybercrime is to create a support network.

Support gives you the resources you need to traverse the thorny path after becoming a cybercrime victim. It can also provide you with ways to cope.

Support networks can be in the form of something simple, such as friends or family. They are usually enough to provide emotional support and encouragement when you have a strong relationship. You can also seek community groups and like-minded individuals who can offer a sense of belonging or shared experiences.

In conclusion

Cybercrime is currently posing as one of the biggest challenges and can cause a significant danger to mental health. The emotional distress that they bring could be some long-lasting pain and leave a mental scar in your life.

So, to protect yourself, you need to understand and learn how to build resilience against evolving cybercrime. Start by developing your coping mechanisms. Then, strengthen your digital literacy to know what you should and shouldn’t do in the digital world.

Take charge of your mental well-being by applying what you’ve learned. Navigate the digital world safely and confidently starting today.

If you would like to see more resources on cybercrime, check out the Personal Resilience Science Labs today. The lab uses the research of the Institute for Life Management Science to produce courses, certifications, podcasts, videos, and other tools. Visit the Personal Resilience Science Labs today.

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Septiandry Khrisna Setiono