‘Cybercrime climbing to breaking limits in Africa, needs sophisticated action’
The Managing Consultant of Delta3 International (D3I), an Informational Security Advisory Company in Ghana, Mr Dele Aden has said that cybercrime in Africa in the last few months, has jumped from ordinary 419 scam to much more sophisticated approaches, hitting targets without much resistance.
In his argument, he said most of the attacker’s still rely on poor security habits of the public to succeed in their operations.
Several banks in Africa had become victims even though they continue to maintain sealed lips to avoid heating up the industry and causing depositors loss of confidence.
In an interview, at a recent Cyber Security Awareness Workshop in Accra, Aden revealed that attackers use various exploits to gain access to a computer or an organisation’s network.
He said social media is a great way to connect with people, share ideas and exchange information but the public needed to be aware of the risk factors.
He disclosed that other potential risk of social networking are your personal information may be easily available to others, exposing sensitive company information, losing control of your pictures once they were on the internet and sites may be used to spread malware and malicious applications.
“Social networking is great but consider the impact of posting information, do not post confidential company data or personal sensitive information such as your date or birth or home address,” he said.
While advising corporate bodies to get in touch with their Information Technology Company or department once they suspect malware, he said the most powerful ways to ensure protection of mobile devices is to secure with enabling biometrics.
Aden stressed that the growing population and digitisation of Africa come with new risks and vulnerabilities that could undermine progress, arguing that “As the African continent’s economy moves online, citizens and their infrastructure becomes targets for an increasingly professional cadre of cyber criminals”.
