Cybercrime trends seem on the rise all over the globe, and South Africa has seen its fair share of hacker attacks lately. It seems that social media accounts are among the most vulnerable spots when it comes to South Africans and cybersecurity.
Facebook Worried about SA Online Safety
Facebook recently identified South Africa as an area of top concern in terms of vulnerability to hacker attacks. Last September, the company’s safety policy manager in the EMEA area, Julie de Bailliencourt spoke out in favor of a proactive approach that is focused on cybersecurity. She toured the country giving seminar lectures on how to remain safe online – ironically, in the same week that Redi Tlhabi’s Twitter account was compromised by cybercriminals.
Out of the over 2 billion Facebook users in the world, 16 million are active every month within South African borders, which makes the country a prime target for hackers. Facebook is particularly concerned because the level of digital literacy in the country seems to be on the low side: According to the same source, 50% of underage children have chatted online with a stranger and almost 50% of those later arranged a real-life meeting with that person.
Half of SA Population Had Personal Data Stolen
These revelations came days away from the biggest security breach in the country’s history. In October 2017, 30 million records and a further 2.2 million emails were found inside a 27 GB file that was stored in a server that was publicly accessible. When analyzed, it was found to contain personal data of more than 50% of the population – names, addresses and contact details of over 33 million South Africans, some of them deceased, were found in the file, including sensitive data like ethnicity and financial information.
This has sparked debate on what could be done to improve the level of cybersecurity in the country and raise awareness, as hacker attacks continue worldwide. It seems that businesses that handle personal data have a crucial role to play and need to have the proper tools in place to safeguard data security. These range from cybersecurity tools to incident response plans and even a holistic approach to an organizations information security like SIEM, short for Security Information and Event Management, that includes real-time visibility across systems and automatic security event notifications and combines security information management with real-time security event management.
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
Yet the biggest challenge seems to be the one that individuals face. South Africans need to educate themselves on the shortcomings of new technologies and take steps to understand how and why their personal data is being shared – and at what risk. Education is key, as the new generation is bound to grow up in a world that is increasingly interconnected. Training employees, from government officials to professionals working in the private sector, is crucial for avoiding the same mistakes and mitigating data breach impact.
It is only by understanding the value of our personal data and the irrevocability of our sharing it with third parties that we can begin to fathom how much is at stake when it comes to cybersecurity – and how we can avoid unnecessary risk.
