Web users still giving up personal information

©Rancz Andrei via 123RF

Though technological advances have aided in protecting internet users' information from would-be "baddies", the chink in the armour remains human error.

Cybercriminals have taken to using social engineering tactics to elicit personal information. South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) CEO Kalyani Pillay said "Criminals use social engineering because they find it easier to exploit our trust than to try and compromise our information using other means."

Social engineering is the art of manipulating people so they give up confidential information. Popular tactics include e-mails from individuals in one's address book that include links or download.

"People trust the link and click, and their software gets infected with malware. The criminal can then take over their machine. Now people on that affected person's contact list will be exposed to the criminal as well," said Sabric information hub GM Susan Potgieter.

The two were speaking at the Consumer Goods Council Summit held in Johannesburg on Friday.

Cybercrime is a growing concern as more South Africans are getting internet connectivity and transacting online. SA had 2.4-million internet users in 2000, and 24.9-million last year, according to Internet World Stats. The country's web penetration was 51.5%.

Source: Business Day