Task 7

Question 7:

The top 5 cybersecurity risks that South Africa faced in 2015 where;

1)     Ransomware

2)     The Internet of Things

3)     Cyber-espionage

4)     Increase in cyber theft and

5)     Insecure passwords

Users enable hackers to obtain these details more easily, as they are not careful when it comes to providing their personal details online.  Without checking and making sure that the emails they receive are legit, users just go ahead and reply to the sender, providing whatever details are asked by “financial institutions”.  Which leads to users being fooled.  Before users sign up or take part on a website, they don’t check to see whether it is a legit website, therefore they just end up providing their personal details to sign up.  Thus leading them to have given their personal details to hackers.  Hackers sometimes also pretend to be a employees of known companies, calling users on the phone, sounding legit and asking them for their personal details.  Hackers have become so smart these days, that they know that most users don’t read these pop-ups on computers, and that they just accept everything popping up, just for it to go away.  Which leads to users inviting hackers into their computers, that contains their personal details.

The best way to mitigate such risks, is to use strong passwords, activate firewalls to secure computers, secure all mobile devices and keep all personal information protected.  Users should also carefully read through any emails, texts etc, before replying and providing personal data. (Digital Citizens, 2015)