“South Africa is the second most targeted country in the world when it comes to cyber-attacks and has the third highest number of cybercrime victims worldwide. "
Most of us have numerous online accounts and use the same password for every one of them because, let’s admit it, nobody can remember hundreds of different passwords. But, who uses the same key to open all the doors at your house? So why are you doing this online?
Hackers love it when you use the same password for multiple accounts because this allows them to try and log in to numerous of your other online profiles, sometimes with a great deal of success. South Africa is the second most targeted country in the world when it comes to cyber-attacks and has the third highest number of cybercrime victims worldwide. A silver and bronze spot no one wants to have. So, what should you do to clean up this digital house of yours?
Make sure you use strong passwords People think no one would guess their passwords. Don’t use patterns on your keyboard, family or pet names, hobbies or any natural, somewhat predictable passwords. A strong password consists of upper and lower case letters, symbols and special characters and is usually between six and ten characters. For example: @6>h*TGYtj.
Start using a password manager with unique passwords for all your online accounts that all adhere to the above mentioned standards, it’s impossible to remember them all. Therefore, use a password manager or secure an online place to save them. The benefit of implementing this solution, is that you don't have to remember any of your passwords, the software does it for you. You only have to remember the one to log in to your password manager.
Clean up after yourself How many times have you created an account online to try out a service or just to get the feel of the program for the free-trial period? If you aren’t using those profiles or accounts anymore, go back to those websites and delete your profile. It's often through such forgotten accounts that you are left exposed to cyber criminals.
Set-up two-factor or multi-factor authentication These added authentication methods serve as additional security layers for you and your business and ensure that you are the only person who can access your account. Log-ins can be compromised within minutes, leaving your private data, such as your personal and financial details, exposed.
References: South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) PwC’s Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey for 2018