DON’T LOOSE THAT GUARD

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Faith Medu
Faith Medu

 

Faith Medu is a Business Consultant, an avid learner and a writer. She is helping Presence Secure to provide value to our customers. Presence Secure is a cybersecurity company that is helping businesses and individuals secure their digital presence.

 As we mark this year’s cybersecurity awareness month, there is a need for every user to know how to be safe and secure while using digital devices. Connect with Faith via LinkedIn here

guard social engineeringOften time, when we hear hacking, unrelated ideas may come to mind, without we placing emphasis on our guard. There are several ways hacking takes place, which we overlook, not knowing we encounter it more times than we realize. Here is one of such experiences I’ve had.

I was in my office on a good business day when one of our customers walked in. My boss had earlier informed me of her coming. Immediately I saw her, I recognized her from his description. We chatted and talked about her business (as we help small businesses grow). I satisfactorily met her business needs from her feedback.

At the end of our discussion, she decided to go personally. She told me about her family and other side hustles and even marketed some goods to me. At that moment of relaxation, she took me aback. Social engineering techniques had prevailed! Then she asked if she could use my phone, without thinking I gave her. She operated my phone while I was busy with other work duties. Within three minutes, she returned my phone, thanked me, and left.

Fast forward, while I was at home, I started getting calls from friends and family, asking me to explain what the page request I sent them was for. The content of the page was against what I represent. It then dawned on me that I had been hacked. What the lady did with my phone when she collected it was to log into my Facebook account, sent a request to all my friends to like her page without my authorization (Confidentiality of the CIA Triad was compromised).

Impact of that hack:

1) Her actions were counterproductive to what I represent at that instant.

2) I was hacked me right under my nose with defense-in-depth in place, such as two-step authentication, strong password, and my knowledge of cyber security. It had a physiological impact.

3) It was embarrassing

Lessons to learn:

1) Anyone can be hacked, everyone is a target.

2) The weakest link to security is a human being.

3) The strongest link to security is an informed you

Be cyber security aware!

#Cybersecurity made simple

#BeCyberSmart

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