Why Cyber Security Matters to Everyone

What you'll be able to do

By the end of this lesson you will be able to explain why no system is perfectly secure and why closing your own weaknesses still makes you a much less attractive target.

• Explain what "security is relative" means, and where its limits are.
• Describe why attackers so often target people rather than machines.
• Respond to the claim "I use a Mac (or a phone), so nobody targets me."

No System Is Perfectly Secure

Dr. Al-Doori starts with a simple definition: cyber security means protecting yourself and others from attacks carried out mainly with computers. Because most of those attacks are aimed at information, such as your messages, photos, passwords and money, the term overlaps almost entirely with information security.

Then comes the uncomfortable part: no computer is truly secure, including yours. Every system has vulnerabilities, meaning weak points an attacker could use. That includes your phone, your home Wi-Fi, the servers that hold your email and the shops that process your card. Some of those weaknesses have not even been discovered yet, but they are there.

That might sound like a reason to give up. It is the opposite. Security is not all-or-nothing; it is relative. You can be more secure or less secure, and that difference matters enormously.

Attackers Usually Pick the Easier Target

Picture two similar bikes outside a library, one locked and one not. A thief does not need to be able to beat every lock in the world. They just take the unlocked bike. Most criminals online think the same way. Someone trying to steal passwords or card numbers in bulk is running a business. They go after the accounts and devices that take the least effort.

So every weakness you close, such as an update installed, a password made unique or a second sign-in step switched on, moves you further from the front of the queue. You cannot become un-hackable, but you can become not worth the trouble.

There is one important limit to this idea. It works against attackers who are shopping for any victim. It works less well against someone who wants you in particular: your account, your username, your company's money. A targeted attacker will keep going after a well-defended target. In Lesson 1.3 you will meet a journalist who was targeted for nothing more than a short social-media username. Relative security still helps in those cases, because every extra barrier costs the attacker time, but it is not a shield.

They Attack You, Not Just Your Computer

We tend to picture hackers as technical geniuses breaking through firewalls. A few are. Dr. Al-Doori points out that most are much closer to con artists: ordinary criminals who looked up a method and followed the steps. Their real target is usually not the machine but the person using it. If they can persuade you to type your password into a fake page, read out a code or install a "helpful" app, the brand of your device hardly matters.

Current crime figures support this strongly. In its 2025 annual report, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) found that cyber-enabled fraud, meaning scams, made up about 85% of all reported losses: about $17.7 billion out of nearly $20.9 billion. For individuals, being tricked is the biggest single source of harm.

Attackers also exploit software flaws, which is why keeping your devices updated matters just as much as staying alert. You will cover both sides in Units III and V.

A Game With Many Players

Dr. Al-Doori describes cyber security as a vast strategy game. Everyone is a player: ordinary users, security professionals, criminals, scammers, companies, banks and governments, each with different goals and different moves. You did not choose to join, but your accounts and data already put you on the board. This course is about learning the rules well enough to play sensibly.

Real-World Example

Many people still assume Macs do not get malware. In February 2026, Microsoft Threat Intelligence reported infostealers (malware that quietly steals saved passwords, browser data and cryptocurrency wallets) aimed specifically at macOS, including families known as Atomic (AMOS), MacSync and DigitStealer. These reached Mac users through fake software installers and "ClickFix" lures: web pages that ask you to copy and paste a command to "fix" a problem or prove you are human.

Notice how these attacks work. They do not break through the Mac's defenses; they persuade the person to run the malware. That is Chapter 1's point in action: popularity draws attackers, and people are the way in.

From the Book to 2026

What the book teaches. Macs and Linux machines are not inherently safer, just less popular. Using a lock analogy, the book explains that criminals learn to beat the most common target. It estimates roughly nine Windows machines for every Mac once tablets and phones are counted.

Why it made sense. Criminals invest in attacks that reach the most victims, so the most popular platform draws the most attention. That logic, that attackers go where the people are, is as sound as ever.

What has changed. The device market looks very different now. In StatCounter's September 2026 figures for all devices worldwide, Android was the largest platform (about 42.5% of usage), ahead of Windows (about 29%), with Apple's iOS and macOS together at about 26%. On desktops alone, Windows was used about 4.5 times as much as macOS. Phones are now the biggest target, and Macs are actively attacked, as the Microsoft report shows.

What to do now. Apply the book's own logic to today's numbers: attackers go where the people are, and today that means phones and the person holding them, on every platform. Whatever device you use, the same basics apply: keep it updated, be suspicious of unexpected downloads and instructions, and never paste a command a website tells you to run.

Watch: Cybersecurity: Crash Course Computer Science #31

This video gives a fast, friendly overview of what security tries to protect and how computers decide who gets in. It is a good companion to Chapter 1's big picture.

As you watch, notice:

• The idea of a threat model: how you protect something depends on who you are protecting it from (a nosy roommate needs a different defense from a determined younger sibling).
• The admission that there is still no way to guarantee a program or system is completely secure, which is the same starting point as Chapter 1.
• The argument for two-factor authentication: an attacker might guess your password or steal your phone, but doing both is much harder.

The video's tips on password complexity reflect older guidance; Unit IV shows how current advice on length and complexity has evolved. The video reinforces what you just read — the lesson is complete without it.

What Would You Do?

A friend tells you: "I do everything on my phone, and I'm not rich or famous. Nobody would bother hacking me." What would you say?

Knowledge Check

Key Takeaways

• No system is perfectly secure, but security is relative: each weakness you close makes you a less attractive target.
• Bulk attackers pick easy targets; a targeted attacker may persist, so relative security helps but is not a shield.
• Most attacks on individuals trick the person. Scams caused about 85% of reported losses in the FBI's 2025 IC3 report.
• Attackers go where people are. Today that means phones, and Macs are actively targeted too.

Sources

• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center — 2025 IC3 Annual Report
• Microsoft Threat Intelligence — Infostealers without borders: macOS, Python stealers, and platform abuse (February 2026)
• StatCounter Global Stats — Operating System Market Share Worldwide (September 2026 data)
• StatCounter Global Stats — Desktop Operating System Market Share Worldwide (September 2026 data)
• Dr. Tahseen Al-Doori — Cyber Security Essentials (Second Edition, 2026), Chapter 1