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South Africa’s Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) highlights three cybersecurity considerations as the annual holiday season approaches.
The first concerns the need for citizens to report cybercrime as they would any other crime.
When reporting a cybercrime at a local South African Police Service (SAPS) station, it is imperative that the complainant requests that it be forwarded to the police’s Cybercrime Division. Furthermore, be sure to alert the South African Cyber Security Hub, SA’s de facto national computer security incident response team. See: https://www.cybersecurityhub.gov.za/contact-us/contact-details
Secondly, recent events involving the Department of Justice and Transnet have revealed that cybercriminals are scaling up their ransomware attacks, in particular. Ransomware is malware that infects a target and threatens to either publish a victim’s personal data or block access until a ransom is paid. Fortunately, consumers can speak to their Internet Service Provider (ISP) about Sender Policy Framework (SPF), Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC), and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) that help prevent attackers from sending messages that look like they come from you and eventually lead to ransomware attacks.
Finally, the third cybersecurity consideration is simple: Don’t believe everything you see online. Staying safe in cyberspace is mostly about exercising common sense and taking everything you read, see and hear with a pinch of salt. The world’s full of unsavory characters and the virtual world’s their cover.
ISPA is a non-profit industry body representing the majority of South Africa’s ISPs who connect the country’s Internet users to the worldwide web. ISPA’s contribution towards boosting cybersecurity awareness amongst South Africa’s Internet consumers has focused on its its involvement in the National Cybersecurity Hub and recent Online Safety Project that helped raise awareness of potential threats to children and adults.
ISPA also maintains a Cyber Safety Resources page to help consumers see through the cyber subterfuge. Cybersecurity is a shared responsibility so please visit https://2026.ispa.org.za/safety/ for further information regarding defenses against ransomware, how to deal with web-related scams, working securely from home and how to protect your children and teens on the Internet today.
