Security
Primus Institute of Technology Targets Southern Africa with New Information Security Certification Program
Primus Institute of Technology (PIT), a newly launched technology training and research organization based in South Africa, is making it easier for African technology professionals to acquire internationally recognized information security credentials. Today, the institute announced the opening of registration for ISO/IEC 27001 Information Security Training and Certification. This highly sought-after certification course provides requirements for organizations seeking to establish, implement, maintain and continually improve an information security management system. This framework serves as a guideline towards continually reviewing the safety of your information, which will exemplify reliability and add value to services of your organization. ISO/IEC 27001 Certificate will prove tha...
Fraudsters Launch Phishing Attacks on Universities
With universities becoming more concerned about their networks’ cybersecurity, attackers find ways to breach these systems by targeting inattentive students, staff and professors. Experts from Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky highlight intensified phishing campaigns with fraudsters exploiting the names of some of the worlds’ biggest universities. As the seasonal change marks the start of a new school year for many markets around the world, this aptly dubbed “back to school season” is traditionally a profitable time for fraudsters as millions of students are getting ready to make tuition payments, or purchase school supplies and new books. University-specific phishing pages are usually well-crafted and mimic official university webpages or online learning management systems. Once users ...
Crypto Twitter shares security concerns regarding Meta’s recent NFT integration news
On Aug 29, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company Meta announced that its users will now be able to post digital collectibles and Non-Fungible Tokens, or NFTs, across both platforms by simply connecting their digital wallets to either site. We’re introducing the ability to post digital collectibles across @facebook and @instagram. You can now connect your digital wallet to either app to share your #NFTs on both. What NFT are you excited to share? https://t.co/wa2wkWfI7p pic.twitter.com/SlpwAuY02c — Meta Newsroom (@MetaNewsroom) August 29, 2022 While Meta’s announcement may have seemed to some like a mass adoption win for some digital asset enthusiasts, not all members of Crypto Twitter were thrilled by the news. Skeptical users took to social media to express concerns surrounding the secu...
5 Risk Management Certifications You Should Not Ignore
Are you thinking of advancing your risk management career? Then you may consider getting a Risk Management certification. In recent times, much effort has been put into better understanding business risk and its nature, which led to the creation of methodologies and approaches that enable individuals and organizations to make accurate decisions based on logical reasoning. Consequently, certifications in risk management are becoming more sought after by large corporations and government entities alike, because they help in protecting the organization from current and future threats. A risk management certification measures your experience and background knowledge in evaluating and making decisions about risk. This is a list of 5 Risk Management courses and certifications that will hel...
7 Popular Cybersecurity Certifications To Turbocharge Your Career
Looking to advance your career in the field of information security or Cybersecurity? The demand for Cyber Security experts is huge, and pursuing a career in this field means joining a booming industry where openings outnumber qualified candidates. In recent times a number of cyber incidents have hit the headlines in South Africa, such as the widely reported ransomware attacks on the City of Johannesburg, Transnet, and the Department of Justice in South Africa Interpol’s African Cyberthreat Assessment Report for 2021 found that Cyber-attacks cost South Africa R2.2 billion per annum, and an Accenture report on digital safety found that South Africa experiences roughly 577 malware attacks per hour. In light of the massive increase in cyber-attacks in recent year...
Ripple CEO comments on Crypto Leaks, denies funding law firm to target others
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse took to Twitter to deny recent explosive claims made by Crypto Leaks, an online publication focusing on corruption and fraud-related news in the crypto ecosystem. Crypto Leaks published a report on Friday containing a series of short videos from an unknown source. The report claimed that Ava Labs formed a secret pact with the law firm to use the American legal system “gangster style” to “attack and harm crypto organizations.” The same report also alleged that Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse funded a law firm to target competitor firms. The report claimed Roche, who founded Roche Freedman, was earlier working with Boies Schiller Flexner, a firm that was representing Ripple in its lawsuit against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)....
How AI & Machine Learning Can Provide Defense Against Cybercrime
Nowadays, threat actors are leaning on new tools and techniques to improve the efficiency of their attacks. Only artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning move quickly enough to defend organisations in this evolving cyber threat landscape. “In the past three months, we’ve been seeing more speed and speed can kill,” says Derek Manky, Chief Security Strategist & VP Global Threat Intelligence at FortiGuard Labs. Threats have been getting into a system, hitting the targets, exfiltrating data, demanding ransom, and getting out of a system, much quicker than normal. This includes attackers capitalizing on new vulnerabilities, zero-days and n-days. They also appear to have become more aggressive, with double extortion, triple extortion and targeted attacks. “Their approaches are more ...
What is a seed phrase and why is it important?
A seed phrase might be confusing and probably you might be wondering how a seed phrase looks and maybe how it is created. The seed phrase is generated by a cryptocurrency wallet and the user has no way of customizing it. The words generated are derived from a list of 2048 words. So, how many words is a seed phrase? A seed phrase is made up of a long string consisting of a group of random words. The words on a seed phrase are simplified so that the user can remember them, unlike if the seed phrase consisted of long numbers or special characters. The recovery phrase consists of 12 to 24 words like energy, road or open. To avoid errors, these randomly generated words do not include pairs like “man” and “men” in the same seed phrase. Bitcoin im...
Binance gives security assurances in Philippine senate banking committee hearing
Binance representatives participated in a hearing of the Philippine Senate Banking Committee, according to a report in the local press Wednesday. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas deputy governor Chuchi Fonacier, the country’s Security Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Emilio Aquino, and members of FinTech Alliance Philippines and the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority also took part in that hearing. The hearing was devoted to fintech innovation and consumer protection, according to the report. Fonacier discussed a sandbox approach to regulation, and Aquino talked about digital asset security. Binance was represented by APAC director Leon Foong and Philippines general manager Kenneth Stern, who told the hearing about the exchange’s security and Know Your Customer process. Stern said at the hearing: “...
Microsoft Office Vulnerabilities Used to Attack African Users – Report
Russia-based internet cybersecurity firm Kaspersky says that the number of exploits for vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Office suite increased globally compared to Q1 2022. In Q2 2022 these exploits accounted for 82% of the total number of exploits across different platforms. This is according to the latest Kaspersky quarterly malware report. The firm says that the META (Middle East, Turkey and Africa) region also saw an increase in the attacks via MS Office vulnerabilities. MS Office vulnerabilities CVE-2021-40444, CVE-2017-0199, CVE-2017-11882 and CVE-2018-0802 were used by criminals most often during the second quarter, being exploited to attack more than 551,000 users in total. These attempts recorded in the report were countered by Kaspersky’s solutions. The company says that if the ...
Infoblox Global Survey Sheds Light on Protecting the Network from Blind Spots
A 2022 global state of security survey from Infoblox, the leader in cloud-first networking and security services, highlights the security concerns, fears, and costs from 1,100 IT respondents in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, United Arab Emirates, Australia, and Singapore. “The hybrid workplace is more reliant than ever on cloud-first technologies, but blind spots have emerged,” says Aric Ault, Senior Director of Channel for Infoblox EMEA. “The explosion of employee-owned technologies on the corporate network feeds IT teams’ growing fears over losing direct security controls and network visibility. This has become all the more concerning as breach costs top 1 million USD for 43 percent of surveyed organisations.” Ruan du Preez, Ve...
Celebrities, Influencers & The Crypto Scams They Promote
Non-fungible tokens, more commonly known as NFTs, and cryptocurrency are still making waves for all the wrong reasons – scams, cons, and phishes are giving these digitally-driven technologies a bad reputation. As Anna Collard, SVP Content Strategy and Evangelist at cybersecurity awareness firm KnowBe4 Africa, explains, this is largely due to the fact that the line between legit and scam is becoming very blurred and very hard for most people to see. “Digital assets like NFTs are being used to drive engagement in the virtual space,” says Collard. “They are also used to handle brand collaboration, reward consumers, and build brand loyalty and customer connections. However, they’re not necessarily working as well as they should, and already there are court cases with celebrities and influencer...
