“This especially becomes tragic if for instance, the user uses the infected mobile phone to bank online and access M-PESA as these too will be easily accessed. What’s even worse is if the user has attached the office mail to the device as this opens up an entire organisation to be compromised.”
Hence, Tumusiime asks people to be especially cautious of apps they download and links they open.
Internet users should also have sufficient information of sites they open.
“There are porn sites that are for instance set up for the purposes of blackmail. Once you open such a site, it asks you to open another link which promises to stream the videos faster. By following the link, the hackers at the site immediately take an instant photo of you which they use to blackmail you mostly by demanding for money, failure to which they threaten to post your photo saying you are looking for sex.”
Free WiFi, is also a vector popularly used by hackers use to commit cyber crime. One simply needs to connect a mobile phone or laptop to a free WiFi to allow hackers access your information.
Email users are also cautioned against using a single email address to connect to multiple accounts as it is quite unsafe. For instance, if you use a Gmail account to connect to a bank account, a Facebook account, to download music and movies, to correspond with online sellers and for your workplace activities among other activities, in case your account is compromised, hackers then get access to all those other accounts hence putting you at risk.
Tumusiime at the same time asks people to beware of updating app versions without finding out from the authorized dealers of any available updated versions of the apps as this too is an avenue for hackers to commit theft.
“We especially want to caution Android users as they are popular targeted by hackers due to their huge user base.”
– Where are these attackers based? –
The security company says that there is no specific location where hackers are based. Developed countries, which are also tech savvy, such as the US, China and Japan are frequent attackers across the world. China was for instance Kenya’s biggest attacker this past quarter. “That however does not mean that China, for example is the one launching the attacks, rather, it is individuals in that country,” Tumusiime explained.
“Most popularly attacked countries on the other hand include India and Turkey as they have big populations and present big financial gains to the hackers.”
