Disturbingly, hackers are active even during times of global disaster, as evidenced in the various cyber-scams doing the rounds in the recent weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe urge all consumers and businesses to be aware of these pervading scams and to take immediate reactive and preventative action,\u201d said Andre Kannemeyer, CTO at Duxbury Networking \u2013 distributors of Sophos cyber-security solutions.<\/p>\n
Beware of emails, SMS or WhatsApp messages from unknown sources with information on coronavirus. Often hackers impersonate legitimate organisations and people to trick you into clicking links, sharing personal data, and even sending money to their \u2018worthy\u2019 cause. If you don\u2019t know and trust the source, do not click it, do not share it and do not reply to it. Always look at the email address used to send the email (it is often a dead giveaway) and not just the display name.<\/p>\n
With many people ordering essential items online, hackers are impersonating delivery services. Their goal is to trick consumers into clicking malicious links or conning you into paying extra \u2018delivery fees\u2019. Stay vigilant, even if you are expecting a delivery. Furthermore \u2013 treat SMSes from \u2018delivery\u2019 companies (legitimate or not) as a notification and never as a link to follow.<\/p>\n
Using extortion emails, hackers threaten to infect your family with coronavirus unless you pay them. Often, these threats include a small piece of information about you that makes the message seem more believable. Do not send money. Do not reply. And most importantly, do not worry \u2013 these are blatant lies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile this is not true of all messages sent by hackers, one can often determine by the poor grammar and spelling used, that a message may not be legitimate,\u201d said Kannemeyer.<\/p>\n
While it can be a minefield as we negotiate our way through this new \u2018reality\u2019, common sense should prevail. Deploying a good cyber-security solution like Sophos will give users the extra edge in the ongoing battle against hacker attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more information contact Duxbury Networking, +27 (0) 11 351 9800, info@duxnet.co.za<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n