October is cybersecurity month and to promote cybersecurity awareness, Steven Cohen, MD of Triple S Solutions, a full-service information technology business, offers the following nine simple but important points to stay safe.
* Companies sending invoices should make it clear on their signature file that their banking details have not been amended. Should you receive an email stating a company’s banking details have changed, please contact the owner or head of finance.
* Always check the header of the email address, this is the actual senders email address, before replying or giving key information such as ID numbers, passwords and other valuable data, to make certain it is from the right sender.
* Avoid downloading free commercial movies and series as torrents leech on to your IP address as well as use your computer or streaming device as a data mining source. Always use legitimate streaming services to watch movies and series.
* Do not click on any links from emails that claim that your account has been hacked or compromised.
* Avoid giving your email address to sites that reward you for giving out email addresses and other information.
* Companies that sell online goods or services should only give bank details once the buyers have been authenticated by voice or email verification as scammers can make use of your bank details to sign up for subscription contracts.
* Use two step authentications to protect your bank accounts and email addresses.
* When receiving payments make certain transfer has cleared before releasing any good.
* Always use a VPN such as travel.futuretv.co.za when accessing any public hotspots such as hotels and coffee shops and when travelling, as this will ensure that your data is not compromised.
According to the 2018 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) email phishing is the most common cause of 96% of all data breaches.
“Educating people to be alert and cautious is the best defence to combat against the most common cyber-attacks,” concludes Cohen.