SA faced 230 million cybersecurity threats in 2024

702’s Relebogile Mabotja speaks with Vanessa Sekati, Cybersecurity Services Manager in the financial industry.

Listen below:

According to the 2024 Interpol African Cyberthreat Assessment, South Africa experienced the highest number of cybercrime incidents on the continent.

Over 230 million threats were detected in just one year, costing the economy over R2.2 billion.

These could include fraud, malware on devices, or security breaches at companies.

Some common cyber threats include phishing, online banking fraud, identity theft, and social media scams.

Many scammers are able to trick individuals into falling for these scams by creating a sense of panic and making them believe that if they do not share their details immediately, they will be lose their money or face other consequences.

Sekati says many of us share too much online which puts us at risk.

“I have a huge problem with the vlogging era we are in now. People are exposing where they live, they are exposing their surroundings and threatening actors can profile you based on that.”

- Vanessa Sekati, Cybersecurity Services Manager 

She adds that these cyber threats can escalate to threats on your safety.

To protect yourself online she recommends browsing carefully and assume that if something seems too good to be true, it is likely a scam.

“There is no way that you have won a competition that you did not enter.”

- Vanessa Sekati, Cybersecurity Services Manager 

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