Unquestionably the insider threat is real and most cyber attacks are a result of someone who is already inside the firewall, says John Mc Loughlin, MD, J2 Software.

On the 11th June, 2018, it was reported that the FBI had made 74 arrests in a global crackdown on e-mail fraud scams, in which criminals have attempted to steal billions of dollars from businesses and individuals. J2 Software notes South Africa is not immune

The growth in cyber attacks is all too familiar these days. Hackers use their devious skills to acquire financial and personal information with the unwitting victim's data either being sold or used to commit fraud; make purchases etc.

John Mc Loughlin, MD, J2 Software, notes that the growth in rewards programmes' fraud has provided a new method for criminals to take advantage of data breaches.

Compliance with the looming GDPR enforcement is simply a matter of tweaking POPIA and general best practice models for data protection.

With Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), set for enforcement on the 25th May 2018, South African companies of all sizes dealing with the personal data of European residents should be focusing on their ability to comply. On top of GDPR, the South African Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) sets out fairly stringent guidelines for data protection.

So, your security perimeter is tight, right?  Your corporate email has advanced threat protection. You have deployed an anti-virus system.  That means you are all good and it is time for you to hang up the sign: Gone Fishing and with not a care in the world.

This might be an effective approach in a world where the people using the devices never leave the office and always and only have access to information when seated safely behind your firewall. It would be great if they never searched for anything online and also never saw a web based advert or used any personal email service such as Outlook.com or Gmail. If all of the foregoing is the case - rest easy and happy fishing.