Due to the rise of mobile and Web applications, an increasing amount of sensitive data is being exposed to possible theft and used for cyber crime.
This was the consensus at a media roundtable hosted by F5 Networks in Sandton last week.
According to Carlos Marques, director of sales for sub-Saharan Africa at F5 Networks, there is a great deal of information that is being shared by consumers and employees through social media and when they download applications.
The social media evolution has made people more comfortable than ever about volunteering information, which can offer organisations an opportunity to develop a new level of customer knowledge, but can also be mined by cyber criminals to access networks, he added.
"The biggest worry is what is being done about that information, who can access it, and for what purpose. When consumers download apps, they just trust that they are secure and don't pay close attention to what they are agreeing to when they accept the terms of agreements. This can open them up to attacks and identity theft," he pointed out.
Martin Walshaw, senior engineer at F5 Networks, said identity theft is a key area to protect against as people extend their presences online.
As apps and Web sites mature, the loose sharing of personal information on social platforms and through unsecured channels is putting identity data at greater risk than ever before, and offering cyber criminals access to networks, he added.
"Applications need a new security perimeter, said Martin Budd, security sales specialist UK, Ireland and Africa at F5 Networks.
Most applications are built without considering application security, and this means cyber criminals can exploit these applications, he added.
However, noted Budd, despite evidence that the highest security risk is to the application layer, organisations continue to allocate most of their resources to the network layer.
Gary Newe, director for field systems engineering for the UK, Ireland and sub-Sahara Africa at F5 Networks, pointed out that there is a general agreement in the security industry that the type of solutions used to secure networks are no longer doing their jobs.
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