PREVENTING identity theft and protecting yourself against scams has become more difficult in this new environment, according to IT security service company KnowBe4 Africa.
Anna Collard, SVP of content strategy and evangelist at KnowBe4 Africa, says it is virtually impossible to avoid having personal data circulating in the digital realm. “Anyone who uses banking and financial services, social media, mobile apps or has retail accounts has shared their personal information far and wide across digital systems. Social media and messaging platforms, web browsers and mobile apps already have access to vast amounts of data about each user. You can choose not to use social media or digital tools to avoid this, but it is not very practical to do so, and would exclude you from some of the modern digital conveniences. Even if you did so, your data would still reside in the digital realm through banking accounts, utilities, loans and more,” Collard said.
She said that as seen with the high profile hacks like the TransUnion breach, there was no guarantee that one’s information was safe with major enterprises like these either.
A report by Clario entitled the Big Brother Brands report noted that brands can collect data including one’s name, date of birth and email address, through to their weight and height, pets, hobbies and preferences. Brands one does business with may also have access to their payment information, bank card details, geographic location and movements, purchasing history, family contacts and more.
The report ranked Facebook and Instagram as brands with the most information about users, including face, environment and product recognition, contacts, voice data recognition, access to their image library and language. But other brands like Google, Uber, TikTok, Spotify and Twitter also have access to vast amounts of data about users.
Collard said that this data was generally gathered to make apps and services more efficient and relevant, or to tailor marketing. She said that however, if it fell in the wrong hands, this data made people very vulnerable. “Because our personal information is such a hot commodity, we need to be even more vigilant about how it could be used for identity theft, or to defraud us through phishing. It is important to remember that social engineering is much easier if an adversary has a great deal of background information about you: for example, you might believe your bank is calling you if they know your ID number, account number, address and other personal details. You could then be tricked into sharing your one-time PIN and have money stolen as a result.”
KnowBe4 Africa said that as an individual, one needed to be aware that their information was being traded not only by marketers, but also by adversaries. Collard said that no one could control a large company being hacked, or if Facebook changed its terms and conditions, but they could protect themselves by being mindful of the fact that people could be trying to trick them by using legitimate information against them.
She recommended basic precautionary measures such as not using the same password across multiple accounts, not clicking on suspicious links and never sharing one’s one-time PIN or banking PIN code with a caller. “Consumers should also check their credit score and credit card statements frequently to pick up potential cases of identity theft or fraud,” Collard said.
Southern African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS) said that over the past two years, South Africa has been hard at work to address the economic challenges that have been created by the Covid-19 Pandemic. The fragility of the economy has been exposed with unemployment rising and the country’s Energy Crisis worsening.
SAFPS chief executive Manie van Schalkwyk said that while these were massive risks that the country needed to address, the instances of cyber crime and hacks were increasing. “According to recent reports, South Africa ranks among the top 10 countries in the world in terms of cybercrime. According to research done by IBM, a data breach in South Africa costs an average of R36.5 million, and the long tail costs of a data breach can be felt for years after the incident. South Africa ranked 7th out of 16 countries polled for the highest cost of a cyber breach,” Van Schalkwyk said.
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