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WASPA reiterates the importance of good cybersecurity at home

We’ve saw numerous reports of cybercriminals ramping up their attacks as more and more people started to work from home.

An analysis of cybercrime during the first 100 days of the COVID-19 pandemic from Mimecast painted a grime picture of the state of affairs.

Malware and impersonations became incredibly alluring attack vectors.

Now the Wireless Application Service Providers’ Association (WASPA) has reiterated the need for South Africans to practice good cybersecurity at home.

The association says that people may inadvertently let down their guard while working from home, exposing themselves to fraudsters, malware, ransomware and worse.

“People feel comfortable within their own homes and may not be as cautious online as we would ordinarily be within a corporate setting. Furthermore, the connected home environment may not offer the same built-in protections against fraudsters as the office,” general manager of WASPA, Ilonka Badenhorst said.

“With 90 million mobile connections and widespread availability of money transfer and digital banking facilities, SA is tremendously attractive to mobile fraudsters who use malware embedded in downloadable apps to gain access to passwords, user names and other sensitive data,” she adds.

WASPA has urged South Africans to report SMSes that they feel may be fraudulent, a scam or spam.

These reports are filed online at this URL and it’s a rather simple form that shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes to complete.

In addition to this the association advises the following safety measures be practiced:

  • Never give out any personal information via SMS or email, regardless of the information the requesting company may already have about you.
  • Delete any suspicious SMSes or emails immediately. Opening spam SMSes or emails may load malware onto your phone, computer or electronic device, which can track personal information and passwords.
  • Ensure your anti-virus and anti-malware programmes are always up to date and run scans on your phone, computer or electronic devices daily.
  • Keep your software updated and uninstall any apps you are no longer using.
  • Only download apps from official app stores – don’t download apps from unverified third party sites.
  • If you receive a text message or email from an alleged known source, like your bank or a financial institution, but they are requesting personal or financial information, rather contact their customer support line (details to be obtained on their official website) to verify the authenticity of the SMS or email and the associated request.

While these are all very simple points that’s the point. Stay cautious out there folks.

[Image – CC 0 Pixabay]

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