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You may or may not have seen the latest Facebook trend that has gone viral and numerous articles that are skeptical of this seemingly “harmless” game.

The 10-year challenge has users adding a then and now photo, to show friends and family the effects of time and perhaps laugh at their former personas.

Just like click bait, this way of gathering data is a bait, and they wait to see you take it. By falling for these types of ploys, you are giving them even more information and allowing them to see what type of consumer you are, what ad’s will work etc.

This is all good and well, but with facebook’s recent track record for breaches, any information put on there is vulnerable, especially updated “now” versions of you. Perfect for tracking and hackers.

As we live in an interconnected world, every single system we interact with needs a password. Oh, the pain, the anguish and the downright aggravation of having to keep a different complex password every time we want to do something online or at work.

Simple solution, use the same difficult password for every system you interact with. What could possibly go wrong?

The truth is that for every system, cloud storage, app and network we place our information and login credentials into we increase our risk landscape. When you use a single password for every platform, a breach of one is a breach of all of them. You may practice safe cyber activity and still have your credentials compromised in a third-party app that has poor security measures.

The theme for this week is Phishing, an oldie, but a goodie. Phishing and malware are part of a larger scheme which is known as Social Engineering.

Phishing is one of the most popular forms of social engineering.

You would think that these types of attacks don’t work anymore due to the ever-growing knowledge around the structure of these types of scams because people are more aware of what to look out for.

Unfortunately, when an attack involves social engineering, it exploits the weakness of the organisation it is targeting, which means the hacker often can tailor a scam in such a way that it won’t be obvious and will most likely be successful.

With 2019 in full swing, resolutions being put into practice and holiday blues setting in, I challenge you to add some different resolutions onto that list of yours, next to the “go to gym four times a week”.

Hopefully you have already implemented many more best practices to stay cyber safe, this list is just to continue this through the new year and to add onto your knowledge.

It is that time of the year again, when annual leave is being cashed in for some relaxation and holiday fun.

As you know, hackers don’t take leave, this time of the year can provide them massive pay days if your defence mentality goes on holiday. The holidays are a lucrative time of year for the cyber attacker. Festive season online shopping has their malware busy, be sure not to add to their ever-growing gift pile.

The out-of-office automated emailer may seem like the right thing to do, you know, so that clients or co-workers emailing you will know that you are out of office. However, think long and hard about what sorts of information you provide in your response. As with unsolicited calls and emails, you must never give any information that the person on the other side does not need to know. This can pose a massive security risk.

These seemingly harmless automated replies can potentially reveal large amounts of sensitive data about you to anyone.

Unlike the Grinch who had a change of heart at the end of the book, a hacker who takes advantage of this busy time, has a one-track mind, and that is to take as much as possible.

You need to be on guard for both your actual and virtual world. Just like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, understanding that to participate in the festivities, you need to be equipped for the threats that cybercriminals plant for unsuspecting victims to fall for. The month of December is the busiest shopping time of the year and the biggest cybercrime hotspot.

Online shopping has become so much more accessible and convenient. With multiple devices to choose from to do your shopping; laptops, tablets, cellphones and desktops, this leaves you more vulnerable to cyberattacks. Managed encryption is crucial to have on all your devices, especially if one is stolen. With J2 managed encryption, your data will be kept safe and inaccessible to cyber criminals.