Changing passwords and being careful with your online presence is just part of the solution to making sure your life on the Internet goes smoothly.

Vulcan's David Swan, the Vice President of the Defence Intelligence Group for the Centre for Strategic Cyberspace and Security Science says Microsoft and Apple are there to help you.

But you need to do the work.

"First thing, even before password updates, to make sure your computer, no matter what kind of computer or operating system you have, make sure it's up to date. At least once a month, but preferably twice a month, or even once a week, update everything. Update your operating system, check for updates in your applications. That's the first line of defence."

Swan says it's not just governments or large corporations who get hacked, but individuals.

He says this year alone he's had to help nearly a dozen people in Vulcan who've computers were seized by "ransom-ware" software.

"The last figures I saw was one Russian crime gang was earning $30 million a month, just on ransom ware. So it's big business. It's no longer just small groups ore individual hackers. The European Police Organization or "Europol" just put out a report saying hackers are behaving like hackers anymore, this is organized crime."