Subscribe

8.8m hit by cyber crime in SA

Admire Moyo
By Admire Moyo, ITWeb's news editor.
Johannesburg, 06 Jul 2016
Many spam, phishing attacks, malware, botnets and other forms of cyber crime in SA are created by criminals in other markets, says Norton.
Many spam, phishing attacks, malware, botnets and other forms of cyber crime in SA are created by criminals in other markets, says Norton.

Over 8.8 million South Africans fell victim to cyber crime in the past year.

This is according to findings from the Norton Cybersecurity Insights Report, which surveyed more than 18 000 consumers across 18 markets, including about 1 000 across SA.

Norton explains that a quantitative online survey was conducted globally among a total of 18 126 mobile device users, of which SA was one of 18 markets surveyed, with a sample size of 1 001.

For comparisons to global data, the global data was weighted such that each country is equally represented and the global margin of error is +/-0.73%, the security solutions company notes. The selected audience comprised adults over the age of 18, who own at least one mobile device. Field research took place from 5 to 16 February.

Norton says it used extrapolation, a common statistical method used in standard consumer research. The methodology used was online adults in SA multiplied by the percentage of cyber crime victims in the past 12 months in the country.

"Most cyber crime attacks are financially motivated. Account compromises, likely due to weak passwords or successful phishing attacks, along with mobile device theft, are some of the most prevalent forms of crime experienced," says David Ribeiro, head of Norton, Middle East and Africa.

Attack techniques

He explains the two cyber crime experiences that were most prevalent, according to consumers in SA, were account and password compromises and credit/debit card fraud.

"Cyber criminals use a variety of techniques to compromise accounts and steal money, including keylogger malware - a type of malware that allows the cyber criminal to capture all keystrokes and Web sites visited - and phishing attacks.

"We have also seen a marked increase in ransomware attacks, wherein a cyber criminal can lock a computer or mobile device, encrypt all of the data it contains and demand a ransom in return for the encryption key."

He points out that many spam, phishing attacks, malware, botnets and other forms of cyber crime in SA are created by people or groups in other markets and spread globally.

The report notes 76% of South Africans believe identity theft is more likely than ever before; and two in three (67%) feel it is more difficult to control their personal information as a result of smartphones and the Internet.

According to Norton, South Africans are engaged with the topic of security (78% acknowledge the need to actively protect their information), but there is still some notion that security is an inconvenience.

It also found 58% would rather cancel dinner plans with their best friend than have to cancel their credit/debit cards after their account has been compromised. The same percentage (58%) would rather endure a terrible date than deal with credit/debit card customer service after a breach or hack.

Heightened sensitivity

Norton points out online crimes are increasingly prevalent, with more than one in seven having had unauthorised access to a social network profile. Compared to their global counterparts, South Africans have heightened sensitivity to online information compromises - 76% believe identity theft was more likely than ever before and 67% said it was easier to control personal information before smartphones and the Internet.

South Africans are more likely than their global counterparts to consider themselves tech-savvy, but despite this, South African millennials are less likely to take personal responsibility for their security - nearly one in three millennials admits to abandoning an account rather than deleting it simply because it was easier (31%).

Millennials and Generation Xers are equally likely to have been victims within the past year, at 39% and 37% respectively. However, only 23% of South Africans aged 55 and over experienced cyber crime during this period, says Norton.

"The good news is more and more consumers are aware of the risks of cyber crime but the bad news is they neither feel they are doing enough to prevent it, or feel that technology has prevented them from being able to do anything about it," Ribeiro says. "Despite personal experience, many South Africans continue to put themselves at risk when it comes to online activity."

No surprise

Graham Croock, director of IT audit, risk and cyber lab at BDO South Africa, says it is not surprising cyber crime continues to escalate rapidly, ranking as the second-most reported crime in SA.

Citing data from cybercrime.org.za, Croock says SA is losing more than R1 billion each year to cyber crime.

Information security solutions vendor Trend Micro notes it may be true that SA has not been the highest on the list of targets for cyber criminals in the past, but recent findings highlight that local users are just as vulnerable to cyber criminal tactics as any other user.

In SA, Trend Micro notes a total of 6 185 PCs were infected with online banking malware in 2015. While no macro malware infected PCs were found between January and March, Trend Micro reports a total of 3 206 macro-malware infected PCs from April to December 2015. There were only 12 cases of POS malware.

Share