I was at a farewell recently and a conversation started when I was asked where I work.
When I said at a Cyber Security company, I got a few confused looks. When I started explaining more around how important it is and how serious the damage can be, interests were peaked.

As I have mentioned in previous blogs and what comes up very often is password management. I asked them whether they have a different password for their platforms?

The first response, to my horror but not my surprise, was that one of the individuals has the same password for their Facebook and online banking. Now I know why they looked so worried when I was saying that if one platform is breached with that password, all the others will be breached too.

The internet can be an incredibly fun and informative place, which is what most children view it as. All they know is the gaming and cool YouTube videos at a click of a mouse.

Many are unaware of the risks online.

It has become the norm for younger children to have access to the internet, whether it be through your cellphone, laptop, tablet or their own device.

It is your responsibility as the parent, to inform them about the dangers.

What are you doing to ensure that they are surfing the web safely?

It is impossible to sit by their side each time they want to watch or play something, you need to have security software installed on the device to stop malware from being downloaded through non-certified applications and stop infected links should they be clicked.

I came across a recent article which really made me sit back and wonder why is it that individuals know about the dangers of cybercrime and the types of scams to look out for, yet they do not do anything to prevent it?

The Business Tech article speaks about newly formulated statistics conducted with over 1000 south African internet users and the results are far from reassuring.

It is no use having the knowledge, visibility and resources if you are not going to action it.

One of my biggest worries when looking at stats like this is that there are some of you who are taking all your knowledge, putting it into practice and because there are those who are not doing the same, you could be at risk. Should they be a friend, colleague or supplier.

Third party risk is a big deal and often you can be unaware that those you deal with do not have the right security in place. It has become the norm to have third party vendors at the core of your business, this would mean that they have access to your confidential and sensitive personal and business information. Should they fall victim to a cyber-attack, your information and data will be part of that breach.

Fires have been raging all around the Western Cape in recent weeks and the effects have been devastating.

It got me thinking, that a breach is a lot like a wildfire, especially when it goes undetected for some time. By not having the capability to detect a breach, that acts like a strong wind that fans the flames and allows the hacker to spread and grow across the environment. When this is eventually detected and the fire dies down, you then bring in specialists like J2 Software. The damage has already been done, the information is gone and your reputation is decimated. Recovery is going to require far more time and much more effort to get back to 100%.

Being prepared and equipped, is the key. By now we should all understand that breaches will happen, you need to ensure that you have the right level of visibility to prevent the fire from going from a spark to an inferno. Why do so many wait until they have suffered a major loss before they get the right solutions in place to protect the organisation?