Stay Digitally Safe – How to reduce your chances of being socially engineered
Article written by: Weever Mbakaya, Product Discovery Manager at MarketForce
The world is on a digital campaign and as software keeps eating up the world so does it make us open for exploitation by cyber criminals. We have witnessed highly sophisticated cyber attacks over the year with 98% of them relying on social engineering.
Social engineering is the use of deception to manipulate individuals into sharing their personal and confidential information that may be used for fraudulent purposes. Since social engineering starts from invading the human before the digital systems we have compiled 4 ways you can reduce chances of being social engineered.
1) Do Not Reuse Passwords
It is hard to keep track of passwords of the many accounts we create on apps we use and it is tempting to use that one “Myname345” password for all your apps accounts.
If cyber criminals compromise one of your accounts, what are the chances they would be able to completely take over the rest of your personal accounts?
Tip
Have different passwords for different accounts
Use Password managers – this is one password for all accounts that stores all your different passwords and uses one strong password to save all of them securely.
Examples include: Lastpass or 1password .
2) Don’t Share your passwords
This is an easy one to suggest but how many times do you recall sharing your critical passwords with others ?
Remember cybercriminals are looking for the weakest link and if the person you share passwords with is compromised so are your chances of being compromised too.
Tip
Don’t share your passwords
Include 2factor authentication on your apps (often referred to as 2fa is a method that requires two separate devices to accept logging into an account). For example, if you share an account with a colleague , anytime they have to log in , it will send a message or link to allow them to log into the shared account . This way either of you have to allow each to access the account therefore improving security to access the account.
3) Download apps from Trusted Sources
The Digital world has its guardians that most of us should trust because they act as the first line of defense against cyber attacks. These mostly are websites from trusted companies and platforms that we download apps from. A well known example is Google Playstore, this is a platform where you can find and download apps you can trust won’t compromise your security or expose you from cyber security attacks.
Google play store has a set of tools that constantly scans for any vulnerabilities or threats on apps uploaded to it and also dedicates a team of engineers to review all applications uploaded on play store.
This kind of first hand defence is however not given to you from other sources therefore exposing you to potential cyber attacks.
Tip
Always download your apps from trusted sources like google play store or apple store for your mobile applications
If you download an app from unknown sources, verify it is from a brand or persons that you trust or can easily take any criminal charges against in case of a cyber attack or fraud.
4) Don’t forward or press random links
Another way to keep yourself safe is to simply keep away from random links forwarded to you from untrusted sources.
Majority of cyber attacks take advantage of our usual habits of sharing content in social media forums unaware of their content.
Most of these random insecure links are mostly phishing attacks (a cyber security attack that is meant to collect user information and data). It mostly happens by deceiving users that the website they are interacting with from the link is from a trusted source and allow users to give up critical information e.g. bank passwords. Most present themselves as promotions from an ecommerce brand or a bank promotion.
Tip
Do not click on randomly shared links to websites on promotions or deals. Check on official websites only for official communication or verify through call or mail about any promotions or deals.
