Cybersecurity Tips
Is Hacking Humans Easier Than Machines?
Anna Collard, SVP Content Strategy & Evangelist at KnowBe4 Africa. When it comes to cybersecurity, technology is not enough. Yes, it is the foundation. But it is not enough to mitigate the growing threat of cybercrime. The reality is that, even with best-in-class security systems, firewalls, endpoint protections and zero-trust frameworks, without a robust and agile culture of security, the business is at risk. The Dark Reading 2021 Strategic Security Survey found that around 48% of security professionals believe that users breaking policy are likely to be the single biggest cause of a major breach in the future. This sentiment is echoed in a ITWeb and KnowBe4 study that examined cybersecurity culture and the impact of this on the South African organisation. “Having a robust cyber...
6 of the Best Android Password Managers to Keep Your Device Safe
Nearly everything you use on your phone needs a password—from online banking and social media to productivity tools and e-commerce websites. It’s wise to have strong and different passwords for each service you use to protect yourself from breaches of your personal data. However, remembering multiple passwords made up of long strings of upper and low case letters, numbers and special characters is far from simple. That’s where password managers are a great help. They make it easy for you to create strong, unique passwords for each service you use and change them as often as you want. They streamline the process of signing in; plus, some have value-added features like secure access to credit card information. For World Password Day on 5 May 2022, Alcatel recommends 6 password managers for A...
Why Ransomware is the Greatest Threat to Your Organisation
Ransomware is getting nastier and more expensive all the time and it has affected almost every industry and geography. No one is immune from the threat. In a global ransomware survey conducted by Fortinet, 67% of organizations report suffering a ransomware attack. Even worse, almost half said they had been targeted more than once, and nearly one in six said they had been attacked three or more times. Renee Tarun, Deputy CISO/ Vice President Information Security, Fortinet Inc. The US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) reported that organizations paid out almost $600 million in ransomware in the first half of 2021, which puts the US on track to surpass the combined payouts of the previous decade in a single year. Last year’s attacks on the suppl...
1 in 4 People Use Fitness Devices – Is Your Tracking Data Secure from Hackers?
Image sourced from Reuters. A recent study by the virtual private network provider NordVPN revealed that 1 in 4 (24.6%) people use some kind of fitness or well-being device, such as a smartwatch, fitness tracker, etc. However, these devices may be tracking a lot more than your fitness activities, and 25% do nothing to protect them, which may pose a serious risk to people’s privacy. Among the data collected by fitness wearables and the mobile apps connected to them, there are basic activities such as steps, heart rate, the time you go to sleep or wake up, as well as your consumed calories, weight, or even running routes, which are all of great interest to stalkers or attackers. For example, Clario research has revealed that Strava collects 41.18% of users’ personal data, and MyFitnessPal — ...
5 Cybersecurity Tips to Keep in Mind Before Your Business Returns to the Office
Sourced from Travellers Switching to working from home was difficult, but oddly enough, returning to the office may be just as tricky. Organisations will have to roll back some changes, which could be as complex as when they were deployed in the first place. They will also need to re-ensure the security of internal services and meet employee needs for software they got accustomed to during lockdown or remote work. One of the most important pandemic takeaways is the speed of business transformation and the flexibility of IT. And IT security should not prohibit but offer options and support this flexibility. A smart and safe return to office work in any form can help companies stay on top of this trend, making the most of their business processes. There are many things to consider, so to hel...
Guide: 9 Approaches for Businesses to Cybersecure Their Cloud Migration
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Cybersecurity Should Be a Top Priority for Africa’s Digital Transformation
Sourced from Travellers Cloud adoption in South Africa and many other African countries is accelerating, helped along by the COVID-19 workplace disruption, and the need to reduce costs, manage risk and scale, and become more competitive. There are many drivers behind digital transformation strategies and many decisions that need to be made, such as which public cloud to consume. However, this should be less urgent than addressing security concerns. As we continue to work with organisations in different industries spread across our diverse continent, cybersecurity and cyber risk are increasingly important considerations for the C-suite. Against the backdrop of high-profile security breaches and ransomware, addressing security weaknesses are a key part of the success of digital transformatio...
Top 5 Tips for Women to Build a Career in Cybersecurity
Image sourced from Texas News Today Representation of women in the cybersecurity industry has grown over the past years and, while this is positive, there is still room for improvement. Growth and success in this area require that everyone work together to amplify each other, but this is easier said than done. How can those interested in cybersecurity further develop their careers? What can those who would like to be an ally do? To answer this, women on the Cisco cybersecurity team across Africa share their journey and experiences and a few common themes stood out. Interestingly, not everyone in cybersecurity started with a technical background. Some of the women currently in cybersecurity started in non-stem-related courses. Cybersecurity was also seen as a growing industry with a choice ...
Preventing Ransomware Attacks: Top 9 Things to Keep in Mind
Sourced from Kaspersky Ransomware attacks have become a massive problem for almost every industry and every organization size. Recently, South Africa’s port authority Transnet was struck by a massive ransomware attack that left the country’s ports crippled for nearly a week. What is a Ransomware Attack? Ransomware is a specific type of malware that holds data hostage in exchange for a ransom. As an attack methodology, it has the potential to cause severe damage. Phishing emails are a common delivery method, but ransomware can also be spread through drive-by downloading, which is when a user visits a website that’s infected. Advanced attacks take seconds to compromise endpoints, and ransomware attacks take seconds to damage your systems and infrastruc...
The High Cost of Cybercrime is Getting Higher
Image sourced from Finance Times. If cybercrime organizations could be publicly traded, we’d have an instant new multibillion-dollar industry sector. Indeed, cyber threats have become so pervasive that U.S. President Joe Biden recently signed an executive order aimed at improving federal cybersecurity in the wake of multiple significant cyberattacks, including the ransomware attack that shut down the Colonial Pipeline. Meanwhile, a broad coalition of experts in the industry, government, law enforcement, civil society, and international organizations have joined together in the Ransomware Task Force to build a framework for combatting ransomware. Ransomware attacks are only one method, however. Threat actors also use distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks to ratchet up the p...
33% of Companies Undergo Cyberattacks Twice a Month on Average, per Report
Sourced from International IDEA The Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report 2021 provided some concerning statistics and facts about the impact of cyber-crime. It is a game, and it is one that Hiscox fundamentally believes no business should leave to chance. Multiple threat vectors and variable threat actors, and, perhaps most worrying – repeated attacks on companies by cyber-crime pose a serious risk to organisations small and large alike. One-in-six of all firms attacked this year (17%) said the impact was serious enough to ‘materially threaten the solvency or viability of the company’. According to Anna Collard, SVP Content Strategy & Evangelist at KnowBe4 AFRICA, the report underscores the immense challenge that organisations face when it comes to securing the business and the people within ...
Why Immutable Architecture is Key to Protecting Backup Data
Ransomware and other malware are a constant threat, and data backup is critical to safeguard a business’ most important asset. However, cybercriminals are increasingly targeting and encrypting backup data copies as well, a strategy that leaves organisations unable to recover unless they pay the ransom. Keeping an immutable copy of backup data is a best practice for data protection and is the solution in the event of a successful two-pronged ransomware attack. What is an immutable architecture? For data to be immutable means that it is unable to be changed over a period of time. With an immutable architecture, when retention policies are set for data backup and recovery, data will be secured, locked and unchangeable for that retention period. This in turn means that it cannot be encrypted b...
