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The Shift to Remote Working Has Led to Bad Online Security Habits

More than 50% of IT teams believe that employees have bad security habits. Habits they’ve developed since moving their offices into the home and that put their information, systems and employers at risk. The statistic comes from the Tessian Back to Work Security Behaviors Report that also found an age discrepancy when it came to who practised the best security from home. Around 51% of 16–24-year-olds and 46% of 25–34-year-olds reported that they used security workarounds, while two in five people said that the security behaviours they adopted at home were very different from those they used in the office. Training A Top Priority For Anna Collard, SVP Content Strategy & Evangelist at KnowBe4 AFRICA, this draws a thick red marker around the need to ensure that people and security trainin...

4 Key Safety Tips to Protect Yourself Against Remote Access Scams

Image sourced from Getty Images. While people and businesses continue to scale the use of digital services in the new normal, cybercriminals also introduce new opportunistic scams. Remote access scams are a new fraud modus operandi, which entails scammers posing as IT department representatives from telecoms providers and/or banks to trick victims into relinquishing control of their devices to steal money and/or sensitive information. “Remote access software is becoming a very popular way for fraudsters to attempt to defraud consumers and businesses,” says Giuseppe Virgillito, Head of Digital Banking at FNB. “With remote access scams, fraudsters will call to offer you help to ‘block a fraudulent transaction’ by downloading and installing ‘protective’ software on your devices. Once you down...

Is Cybersecurity as Necessary as Electricity?

Sourced from Travellers Cybersecurity has become as much a business necessity as having electricity says South African financial services and insurance company, Sanlam. Threat actors are constantly evolving and relentlessly hunting for vulnerabilities, cybercrime has become so profitable that exploitation is their business priority, and regulation is increasingly complex to navigate and manage. For Sanlam, cybersecurity has always been more than plugging holes and filling gaps, it’s a priority that has to be embedded within business foundations while managing cost, growth, customer experience, data analytics and regulatory controls. “Developing a comprehensive and holistic cybersecurity solution is a mandate for us, one that we must meet to ensure customer, stakeholder and industry trust. ...

6 Basic Online Security Rules Everyone Should Follow

68% of people in South Africa dealt with fraudsters who were trying to steal money, bank card details, Internet banking credentials in 2020, according to Kaspersky research. The report goes on to reveal that 58% of people consider that scammers had targeted them or their loved ones more frequently during the Coronavirus pandemic and self-isolation. “Scammers often adapt their manipulations to the current agenda. During the pandemic, some scammers tried to exploit people’s anxiety to make money in the increased demand for certain goods while others focused on citizens’ desire for freedom,” says Maher Yamout, Senior Security Researcher at Kaspersky. “No matter what kind of tricks the scammers use, users should follow the basic rules of cybersecurity.” The most popular way of protec...

Cyber Hygiene for System Health and Online Security

Organisations in the COVID-19 pandemic era have been forced to look at their security hygiene best practices in order to minimise risk, data leakage and non-compliance, while still allowing for operational flexibility and efficiency.  Employees have increasingly been both allowed and encouraged to use their own devices to remotely connect to the corporate network. As a result, connectivity and digital resources at the office as well as the home have become more intertwined, meaning that minimising risk has become more critical than ever. Cyber hygiene refers to the practices and steps that companies need to take to maintain system health and improve online security. In my opinion, cyber hygiene has not changed significantly over the past year or two, but has just become more relevant to ap...

New POPI Act Regulations – Here’s Everything You Should Know

Sourced from Europa EU. Progress is being made to promote the protection of personal information in South Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced the commencement of parts of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). The remaining provisions of the Act will be addressed once the Information Regulator assume its powers, functions and duties in terms of the Act. The sections that will commence today, 1 July 2020 and include the conditions for processing personal information, procedures for dealing with complaints and provisions regulating direct marketing by means of unsolicited electronic communication. Sections 2 – 38, 55 – 109, 111 and 114 (1), (2) and (3) commences on 1 July 2020 and Sections 110 and 114(4) will commence on 30 June 2021. What does this mean? According t...

5 Steps to Protect Yourself and Employees from Android-Based Cyber Threats

Sourced from International IDEA While nearly 9 in 10 companies not only allow but actually rely on their employees to access critical business apps using their personal devices, according to a recent Fortinet Threat Landscape Report, Android-based malware now represents 14% of all cyber threats. In addition to direct attacks, the number of compromised web sites, email phishing campaigns, and malicious access points continue to grow exponentially, infecting unsuspecting users – regardless of their devices –with spyware, malware, compromised applications, and even ransomware. And whenever a personal device of any of your employees becomes compromised, they can represent an increased risk to your organisation as well. In addition to deploying mobile device management software a...

New “Wormable” Bug Discovered in Windows 10

Sourced from Travellers Windows 10 users have been urged once again to ensure that their systems are updated and properly protected with the latest security patches following the discovery of a dangerous new vulnerability. This comes via Tech Radar. This new warning emanates from US Homeland Security, whose cybersecurity advisory unit has discovered an exploit code for a wormable bug online. The Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is now urging all Windows 10 users to patch and update their systems immediately to ensure they stay safe from the vulnerability. The bug itself was discovered in a GitHub post. An exploit that targets a known security flaw in the server message block tool that allows Windows to communicate with other devices, including appli...

Zoom Denies End-to-End Encryption to Free Users

Videoconferencing company Zoom confirmed this week that it won’t enable its end-to-end encryption for free calls because it wants to allow law enforcement access to these calls if necessary. Zoom’s statement about the policy reads: “Zoom does not proactively monitor meeting content, and we do not share information with law enforcement except in circumstances like child sex abuse. We do not have backdoors where participants can enter meetings without being visible to others. None of this will change,” says a spokesperson. “Zoom’s end-to-end encryption plan balances the privacy of its users with the safety of vulnerable groups, including children and potential victims of hate crimes. We plan to provide end-to-end encryption to users for whom we can verify identity, thereby limiting harm to t...

41% of Parents are Suspicious of their Children’s Social Media

The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has forced families to spend their free time mostly at home. Staying at home usually also means spending much time using different Internet-connected devices. For clear reasons, children’s growing online activity can cause lots of worries for their parents. According to a Kaspersky survey, 41% of South African parents claim that they have come across something in their child’s social media account that seemed suspicious. Elaborating on what it exactly was, they mention people they interact with (55%), posts that they publish or share (46%), groups or public pages they join (32%), private messages (a quarter) and videos on their page (23%). What is more, 38% state their child has seen or listened to something that seemed suspicious to them, be that videos (72...

Cybersecurity Reimagined for the CIO

Sourced from International IDEA Despite the technological innovation taking place, companies would do well to remain focused on ensuring their IT fundamentals are in place before rushing to capitalise on the latest trends. And nowhere is this more critical than when it comes to cybersecurity. Expectations are that the impact of global cybercrime will cost businesses more than $6 trillion by the end of next year, up from $3 trillion in 2015. It, therefore, remains one of the most significant challenges as digital transformation continues to grow in momentum, and the cloud has become part of standard business operations. Fortunately, companies are taking the protection of their data and networks seriously. Worldwide spending on information security solutions is anticipated to grow at a five-...

Top 5 Most Trending Stories – Week in Review

As this week comes to a close we take a look at the stories that resonated most with our readers. Tech often reflects the world around us as viewers gravitated towards stories involving services that offer aid and information on how to navigate life as it is today. From Vodacom’s new chatbot protecting its customers to Nedbank’s free online education courses. The launch of Nokia’s C2 smartphone in South Africa, to the best apps to use instead of Zoom, and the 5 worst video-calling apps to use if you value your privacy. Find out more about this week’s top articles: 5. Vodacom’s Chatbot Answers up to 20 000 Customer Queries per day /* custom css */ .tdi_3_cf9.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_cf9.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Vodacom has put in place numerous features to aid ...

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