Be sure to protect yourself from cybercrime with these tips from the South African Police Service.
As glorious as the internet can be, it has become a haven for criminals to take advantage of people.
Cybercrime is a fast-growing area of crime according to the South African Police Service (Saps). Cybercrime can be separated into three areas: Attacks against computer hardware and software; financial crimes and corruption; and online abuse.
To assist the public, Saps has provided the following prevention tips:
- Use strong passwords for your online profiles and change them regularly. Make the passwords more complicated by combining letters, numbers, special characters (a minimum of 10 characters in total)
- Secure your computer by installing firewalls. Use anti-virus/malware software, anti-spyware software and check the security settings of the browser.
- Be social media savvy by making sure your social networking profiles can only be accessed and controlled by yourself.
- Be careful what information you post online as you never know who is keeping an eye on your profile.
- On your mobile device, only download applications from trusted sources and be aware of the privacy settings of these applications.
- Protect your data – use encryption for your most sensitive files, such as tax returns or financial records, back up all your important data regularly and store it in another location.
- Only use secure wireless networks (Wi-Fi) in public. Never exchange banking details for internet access.
- Avoid financial or corporate transactions over wireless networks and internet cafés.
- Be cautious when giving out your personal information such as name, address, phone number or financial information over the internet.
- Avoid being scammed, always check the source of the message and never reply to emails that ask you to verify your information or confirm your user ID or password.
- Report all cybercrime at your nearest police station.
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