It isn’t a case of if a small to medium enterprise, startup, entrepreneur and genius business idea will be hacked. No, today it is a case of when. Ransomware, fraud, hacks, breaches -- the list is fairly endless, especially as cybercrime continues to evolve at a rapid rate. Research undertaken by Barclays Bank in the UK has found that cyber fraud costs the SME around £1000 (R17 000) every, single time, and cost more than 50 000 jobs. he impact is vast and the reality, according to Experian, is that around 51% of small businesses don’t have a response plan in...
People are still falling for fake sites pretending to be Facebook, research from Kaspersky Labs suggests. In 2018 thus far, the Russian security company blocked "3.7 million attempts to visit fraudulent social network pages". Notably, 58.7% of these attacks were attempting to direct users to fake FB pages. That's a pretty substantial slice of the pie, considering that VKontakte -- Russia's version of Facebook -- was responsible for 20.8%, and LinkedIn 12.9%. "At the beginning of the year, Facebook was the most popular social networking brand for fraudsters to abuse, and Facebook pages were frequently faked by cybercriminals to try and steal...
As if Twitter users didn't have enough to think about this week (thanks Kanye), it sprung an even bigger surprise on its users late Thursday night. The social network prompted all of its 336-million users to change their passwords, after it discovered that its employees could potentially see them. Twitter's calling it a "bug", but it was seemingly a flaw in the way the firm logged passwords. We recently found a bug that stored passwords unmasked in an internal log. We fixed the bug and have no indication of a breach or misuse by anyone. As a precaution, consider changing your...
All the hype surrounding Gmail may be thanks to its first redesign in some seven years, but not all is well with Google's mail service. According to a number of reports, Gmail users on Sunday found a number of spam messages sent from their accounts. "My email account has sent out 3 spam emails in the past hour to a list of about 10 addresses that I don’t recongnize," wrote one user on Google's Product forum. Changing passwords didn't help this particular user either, nor did marking the mails as spam. "Please help, what else can I do to ensure my account...
Recent reports of large data breaches are alarming for everyone. Customers worry about the implications of having their financial and personal information hijacked. The organisations that were compromised worry about both the near-term and the long-term effects on their business and other organisations worry if they will be next. Two things are certain, though. The cost of a data breach is going to be really expensive, and it’s not going to be the last time it happens. The big question everyone is asking is, what do I do about this? Perform a risk assessment A thorough risk assessment helps ensure you are focussed...
Over the last few days, as the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica disaster continues to make waves, there has been a huge increase in deleted Facebook profiles. Elon Musk made waves when he deleted his company pages for both Tesla and SpaceX, after first claiming surprise that either of his companies was on Facebook in the first place. This move has given the #deletefacebook even more momentum. Is deleting Facebook really the answer to the latest data scandal, however? And, more importantly for brands using social media, is privacy even a real thing anymore? The concept of privacy has been hotly...
Remember WannaCry? It was 2017's big security story, infecting more than a quarter-million Windows computers at its most prolific point. But its prominence died down after tech doctors quelled its spread. But like a bad case of influenza, it's definitely not dead, and reports suggest aircraft manufacturer Boeing found that out the hard way on Wednesday. According to the Seattle Times, the firm's 777 assembly line in North Carolina was affected, but it was contained to a small number of machines. "The vulnerability was limited to a few machines. We deployed software patches. There was no interruption to the 777 jet program...
From 1 May 2018, using "offensive language" on Microsoft's online services could get you banned, this after the company updated its Services Agreement. Although the change was implemented on 1 March 2018, civil rights advocate Jonathan Corbett spotted the change this week. "In the Code of Conduct section, we’ve clarified that use of offensive language and fraudulent activity is prohibited," Microsoft wrote in a brief summation of the changes. Further digging into the actual change, explains that users are not allowed to "publicly display or use the Services to share any inappropriate content or other material (involving, for example, nudity, bestiality, pornography,...
If excessive spam calls weren't enough, South Africans will now need need to guard against a new MTN scam plaguing the network. Using OTPs, or one-time PIN numbers, scammers can gain access to a users' MTN account, purchase airtime and data, and then transfer said purchases to another number. According to MTN, fraudsters gain the OTP from users directly, asking them to provide it during spam calls. "Unfortunately, fraudsters are everywhere and we want to be sure all our customers are protected at all times, across our entire business," explained Jacqui O'Sullivan, the company's corporate affairs executive. "Our systems are designed to safeguard...
While massive data breaches are associated with international companies such as Ashley Madison or LinkedIn, South Africa is no stranger to customer data being released into the public domain by cybercriminals. In fact, it was in October 2017 when security expert Troy Hunt stumbled across the largest data breach in South African history. The personal data of millions of South Africans was compromised when a database backup file titled "masterdeeds.sql" was leaked publicly online. The data contained millions upon millions of ID numbers, as well as contact details, addresses and income of certain individuals. It's rumoured that even President Jacob Zuma's...
Gone are the days when the scariest digital security vulnerabilities were found on Microsoft Windows. This week, Kaspersky has alerted the world to an Android spyware with "previously unseen" capabilities. Scarier still is that the spyware, dubbed Skygofree, has been active for more than three years. "Skygofree is a sophisticated, multi-stage spyware that gives attackers full remote control of an infected device," the company alerted in a press release. "It has undergone continuous development since the first version was created at the end of 2014 and it now includes the ability to eavesdrop on surrounding conversations and noise when an infected device...
What is the safest day to shop online during the sales season? That's a question many a budget hunter should be asking over the Black Friday weekend. Cybersecurity company Kaspersky believes that it has the answer. Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, there's a lesser known shopping day dubbed Grey Saturday. And yes, it's name isn't quite as catchy. It does however hold one particular distinction. According to Kaspersky's data, Grey Saturday is the safest day to shop online during the Black Friday weekend. The company recorded a dip in reported phishing attacks through 2015 and 2016 when compared to the likes of...
Cybersecurity has been at the forefront of conversation for companies and individuals this year, especially in the wake of the Equifax hack, the Deloitte breach, and Yahoo's big revelation yesterday. But which industries are the most attacked? Kaspersky today issued its Threat Landscape for Industrial Automation Systems in H1 2017 report that revealed some notable worldwide internet security trends. Based on the company's findings, March was the most active month for cyber attacks so far. Kaspersky also claims its products blocked around 37.6% of attack attempts on ICS computers in the first half of 2017. "This figure was almost unchanged compared to the previous...
When Yahoo announced that a billion users were affected by its 2013 hack, the internet weathered a collective cold sweat. But the story isn't quite done yet. The internet company's parent firm Oath today released "new intelligence" regarding the breach. "Subsequent to Yahoo's acquisition by Verizon, and during integration, the company recently obtained new intelligence and now believes, following an investigation with the assistance of outside forensic experts, that all Yahoo user accounts were affected by the August 2013 theft," Oath, also a subsidiary of Verizon, confirmed in a press release. That's three-billion users. While Oath confirmed that the orchestrators of the hack...
Employees have been called the weakest link in a business's cybersecurity – a particularly notable problem in a time where high-profile hacks and ransomware attacks are on the rise. A favourite target of hackers is small-to-medium business – as they often have higher cash pools than individuals, but lack the cybersecurity of major institutions. But even if your cybersecurity is up to scratch, an employee who is unfamiliar with digital threats can cost you dearly. Here are three ways your employees can put your business cybersecurity at risk: Opening emails with malicious software While many people have wised up to the typical scams that...
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