Cyber crime surge feared for Xmas season
by AKANI CHAUKE
JOHANNESBURG – SOUTH Africa’s Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) is wary of the rise of cyber crime as the annual holiday season approaches.
It has urged citizens to report the scourge as they would any other crime.
When reporting a cyber crime at the local South African Police Service (SAPS) station, it is imperative that the complainant requests that it be forwarded to the Cybercrime Division.
“Furthermore, be sure to alert the South African Cyber Security Hub, SA’s de facto national computer security incident response team,” ISPA stated.
Secondly, according to ISPA, recent events involving the Department of Justice and Transnet have revealed that cyber criminals are scaling up their ransomware attacks, in particular.
Ransomware is malware that infects a target and threatens to either publish a victim’s personal data or block access until a ransom is paid.
Consumers can speak to their ISP about Sender Policy Framework (SPF), Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC), and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM).
ISPA urged citizens to be vigilant and not believe everything they saw online.
“Staying safe in cyberspace is mostly about exercising common sense and taking everything you read, see and hear with a pinch of salt. The world’s full of unsavory characters and the virtual world’s their cover.”
ISPA is a non-profit industry body representing the majority of South Africa’s ISPs who connect the country’s internet users to the worldwide web.
– CAJ News
