KNOWING WEAKEST LINKS TO CYBER SECURITY CHAIN

Despite growing threats in the cyberspace, only a few organisations consider this situation as critical,and have put well organised security measures in place.

These organisations are investing a great deal in security tools to make their organisations secure. However, a very important aspect, namely 'the weakest links,' being emphasised by security experts, has been forgotten.

Humans are the weakest links to the security chain. They can be the cause of security breach in any organisation despite the best implementations of the security tools.There is no patch for humans.

That is why cyber security awareness programmes have been strongly recommended to minimise the risks. Recently, Kaspersky conducted a survey named Consumer Security Risks Survey 2014: Multi-device threats in a Multi-device world which was released last month (July, 2015) According to a survey conducted by Kaspersky Lab and B2B International, women have been found to be less aware of cyber threats.

However, in light of this and in celebration of National Women's Day on 9 August 2015 in South Africa, Kaspersky Lab, along with B2B International, intend to not only make women more aware of online cyber threats - but also protect them against it. Both Kaspersky Lab and B2B International are encouraging all women, to expand on their knowledge of online security protection.

According to the survey, only 19 per cent of women believe they may fall victim to cybercriminals while every fourth man (25 per cent) considers it possible. Moreover, according to the survey women generally know less about cyberthreats than men.

For example, 27 per cent of men and 38 per cent of women are unaware of ransomware; 23 per cent of men and 34 per cent of women know little about mobile malware; 21 per cent of men and 34 per cent of women have a limited idea what an exploit is. This lack of awareness can cause a user to pay less attention to protecting themselves against cyber threats.

When they allow other people (children, friends, colleagues, etc.) to use their main device, 36 percent of women do nothing to protect their data because they "see no risk". Only 28 per cent of men behave in the same way. 75 per cent of men and 68 per cent of women make back-up copies.

13 per cent of women have no security solutions on their devices, compared with 10 per cent of men. There seems to be a connection between awareness of cyber threats and the number of cyber-incidents faced by women and men.

In the survey it appears that over a 12-month period more women than men faced malware incidents (73% vs 65%), although men were more likely to suffer financial consequences (22% vs 19%).

Typically, men more often spend money on buying special programmes designed to clean the system or to protect it in the future whereas women prefer to turn to IT professionals for help. However, there are some threats that men face more often than women.

For example, in 2014 cyber-attacks targeting users' financial data were encountered by 47per cent of men but just 39 per cent of women.

This may be because women are particularly concerned about the security of financial transactions compared with other online activities.

Thus, 59% of men and 64% of women are worried about the risk of online fraud affecting their bank accounts while 46 per cent of men and 51 per cent women feel vulnerable when making online payments.

In addition, female respondents are slightly more worried about someone spying on them via their webcam (41% vs 38%). Riaan Badenhorst, Managing Director for Kaspersky Lab, Africa stated that: "In real life people understand that it's important to take sensible precautions to protect the things that they value as they go about their day-to-day activities.

The same is true online. Following sensible web safety guidelines allows us to greatly reduce the risk of losing valuable data or falling victim to financial fraud."

It is advised that a user should always be careful when using public computers - Never perform any online business using public computers.

These public computers may have a variety of spyware programs running on them. If so, these malicious programs could record everything you type on the keyboard -- including your passwords -- and also intercept Internet traffic.

Even if you use your own computer for online transactions, you need to avoid connecting to the Internet via a public Wi-Fi network. On a public Wi-Fi network, there is a risk that the traffic might be intercepted by the network's administrator or by cybercriminals -- and attacks might be launched with network worms. In addition, a rigorous anti-malware solution can protect you against computer viruses, worms, Trojan viruses and more.

Some anti-malware products also include special technologies that provide additional layers of security when you're using online shopping and banking websites.