Here’s how Cyber Crooks get in the Door

Corruption is the open door that leads to organisations being hacked in South Africa.

According to experts, in South Africa many organisations are compromised by scheming between criminals and corrupt employees.

The big issue here in SA is internal employees or contractors conspiring with criminal syndicates - providing inside information or access credentials.

Email is the predominant method cyber criminals use to attack South Africans.

Did you know that 90% of cyber attacks begin with an email?

Typically, a cyber scam begins with a maliciously sent email with a “hook” such as a SARS refund, tickets to a concert, or an account payment as bait.

While the methods used to infect are the same, the hooks used to trick people into clicking on infected attachments and links may be different, but also use local topical events and news to lure people in.

South Africa ranks ninth with 8.2% of users attacked with banking malware.

Cyber criminals have also modified their attack method to focus on key people in organisations – a technique known as spear phishing.

We have seen a massive increase in spear phishing emails being sent to key people - with malicious attachments or re-directing them to dangerous websites to either infect their device or harvest information or encrypt their information and demand a ransom!

Once cyber criminals have infected a computer system, they will lock the device to demand a ransom in virtual currency (usually Bitcoins), which increases over time.

However, SA is also seeing an increase in so-called hacktivism. Cyber actors target specific companies or organisations to make a political point.

Also on the increase is DDOS attacks against companies – if done by hacktivists to take them off line to teach them a lesson… if done by cyber criminals then to extort money – pay or we take you down again. Motive is an important aspect in this.

South Africa isn’t among the top regions for cybercrime development, but there is always the possibility of attacks within the country that have other motivations - in this case, ‘hacktivism’, ie a DDoS attack designed to make a social or political point.

The technical inability of local hackers though, need not be an impediment to their ability to carry out cyber attack campaigns.

Even if hackers don't have the technical skills themselves, the crooks can often simply ‘rent’ what they need - typically using the Dark Web to get in touch with each other, wherever they might be in the world.

Have you been a victim of Hacktivism, cyber crime or a cyber attack? Do not hesitate to contact The Computer Guyz in Cape Town or Centurion!