14/04/2023
South Africa ranked 6th in the list of countries most affected by cybercrime.
1. Use good passwords
The longer the better and include combinations of uppercase, lowercase, number and symbol characters in no obvious numerical, alphabetical or keyboard sequence.
Never reuse passwords across different accounts, or write them down anywhere. There are a lot of password software programs, where you can easily and securely store your passwords.
2. Enable multi-actor authentication, where possible
Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) is a method requiring a user to provide two or more verification factors to gain access to an online cloud account, application, network or Virtual Private Network (VPN) MFA is a core component of a strong identity which helps decrease the likelihood of a successful cyber attack.
3. Don’t trust: verify
Today’s criminals pose as legitimate service providers so as to convince you to hand over your valuable information, such as logins or bank account details
Luckily, most of these scams are relatively easy to spot if you examine the email sender details and hover over any links to view the URLs they’d like you to visit.
Most legitimate businesses will never request or redirect you to enter personal information or passwords via email. If they do, it’s best to confirm the request over the phone before doing anything.
4. Keep your software and devices updated
Software updates and security patches are regularly released to address emerging security risks. Make sure you update your different platforms on a regular basis, to reduce the risk of attack.
5. Backup as much as possible, as often as possible
Backups are an invaluable part of reinstating your position on your system in the event of cyber attack.
A general rule of thumb is to ensure you are never at risk of losing enough data to critically impact your ability to operate, be it through backing up once a week, once a day or once an hour, depending on your requirements.
