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I recently learnt about a cyber-attack that is different to your usual run of the mill click on the link and infect your device routine.

This attack doesn’t rely on you to do anything to actively enable it.

I know right, you were just starting to get the hang of not clicking on anything suspicious and doing all you can to keep up with your best practices and now hackers have created malware code that can be deployed without you being able to detect or stop it.

Why it is called “Drive-by” is because it can be downloaded by simply visiting a compromised site, you don’t need to physically do anything, by opening the page/app and closing it, this malware will be deployed onto your device.

“I told you so” is an expression that most of you know. For those of you that may be unaware of what it means, it is the dreaded words uttered after the exact negative outcome that someone had told you is going to happen if you followed through with your actions has happened and you are left with a feeling of regret. Basically, they are saying they were right and you were wrong.

This happens often within the Cyber Security world, individuals say they don’t need more security, they have enough and that type of breach will never happen.

We are all living busy lives, often trading in the safer option for a more convenient one.

Social logins are something that should be considered before implementing.

If you don’t know what a social login is, it is a software sites use that allows you to use the same username and password to get into different platforms.

Instagram has a social login option as seen in the image below, it prompts you to log in through Facebook, this allows you to access Instagram without having to enter your credentials and will keep you logged in as it uses your Facebook credentials to log in automatically.

I was at a farewell recently and a conversation started when I was asked where I work.
When I said at a Cyber Security company, I got a few confused looks. When I started explaining more around how important it is and how serious the damage can be, interests were peaked.

As I have mentioned in previous blogs and what comes up very often is password management. I asked them whether they have a different password for their platforms?

The first response, to my horror but not my surprise, was that one of the individuals has the same password for their Facebook and online banking. Now I know why they looked so worried when I was saying that if one platform is breached with that password, all the others will be breached too.

The internet can be an incredibly fun and informative place, which is what most children view it as. All they know is the gaming and cool YouTube videos at a click of a mouse.

Many are unaware of the risks online.

It has become the norm for younger children to have access to the internet, whether it be through your cellphone, laptop, tablet or their own device.

It is your responsibility as the parent, to inform them about the dangers.

What are you doing to ensure that they are surfing the web safely?

It is impossible to sit by their side each time they want to watch or play something, you need to have security software installed on the device to stop malware from being downloaded through non-certified applications and stop infected links should they be clicked.

I came across a recent article which really made me sit back and wonder why is it that individuals know about the dangers of cybercrime and the types of scams to look out for, yet they do not do anything to prevent it?

The Business Tech article speaks about newly formulated statistics conducted with over 1000 south African internet users and the results are far from reassuring.

It is no use having the knowledge, visibility and resources if you are not going to action it.

One of my biggest worries when looking at stats like this is that there are some of you who are taking all your knowledge, putting it into practice and because there are those who are not doing the same, you could be at risk. Should they be a friend, colleague or supplier.

Third party risk is a big deal and often you can be unaware that those you deal with do not have the right security in place. It has become the norm to have third party vendors at the core of your business, this would mean that they have access to your confidential and sensitive personal and business information. Should they fall victim to a cyber-attack, your information and data will be part of that breach.