GhanaWeb Feature by Ernestina Serwaa Asante

In today's growing digital landscape, we surf the net for information, connect with family, friends, meet new people, reach out to customers, promote our goods and services and among others.

However, some unscrupulous persons tend to take advantage of this rapid advancement of technologies to cause mayhem and extort people for their selfish gains.

From romance scams to identity theft, these scammers make conscious efforts to swindle individuals and businesses with rather sophisticated means.

Station X, a cybersecurity training and career development platform, reported that Africa experienced an average of 2,372 cyberattacks per week in early 2024, representing a 20 percent increase from the previous year.

The sophistication of these threats; social engineering, third-party exposure, cloud vulnerability, ransomware, and attacks on Internet of Things (IoT) devices keep surging with cybersecurity ventures estimating that global cybercrime costs will hit $10.5 trillion by 2025.

To help address this menace, the Cyber Security Authority in Ghana commenced the licensing of Cybersecurity Service Providers (CSPs), accredited Cybersecurity Establishments (CEs) and Cybersecurity Professionals (CPs).

This forms part of efforts to guarantee regulatory compliance with the law and to streamline the process of providing services in accordance with approved standards and processes that are consistent with domestic laws and international best practices.

The move is also to ensure a safe digital space in Ghana and beyond.

Below are the top five cyber threats taking place globally:

Social engineering

Social engineering is the tactic of manipulating, influencing, or deceiving a victim in order to gain control over a computer system, or to steal personal and financial information.

Cybercriminals use this psychological manipulation to trick users into making security mistakes or giving away sensitive information.

Some types of social engineering are phishing, baiting, tailgating, quid pro quo and dumpster diving.

To avoid being hacked, it is advisable not to open email attachments from suspicious sources. Always confirm from the sender to avert any potential threats.

Third-party exposure

According to UpGuard, Third-party risk is any risk brought on to an organization by external parties in its ecosystem or supply chain.

Such parties may include vendors, suppliers, partners, contractors, or service providers, who have access to internal company or customer data, systems, processes, or other privileged information.

Ransomware

Ransomware, just as its name suggests, 'ransom' is a type of malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid.

Some ransomware attacks encrypt data as part of their extortion efforts and until a ransom payment for the decryption key is paid, organisations do not have access to their files.

Cloud vulnerability

Research published by Wiz Experts Team defines cloud vulnerabilities as weaknesses or gaps in a cloud computing environment that attackers can exploit to gain unauthorised access, steal data, or disrupt services.

According to Forrester, the top 35 data breaches in 2022 accounted for 1.2 billion compromised customer records.

The consequences of such data breaches include reputational damage, reduced profit margins, organisational and operational disruption, and legal fines.

Attackers continue to seek out these vulnerabilities because they are easier to exploit.

Attacks on Internet of Things (IoT) devices

This mode of cyber attack targets the vulnerabilities of smart devices and applications connected to the internet. It allows attackers gain unauthorised access to your device to steal data or cause damage to the devices.

Paying attention to these cyber threats can safeguard both lives and properties as huge sums of monies and confidential data will not be lost.

Also, cracking down on cybercriminals will lead to a safe cyberspace on the continent and the world at large.

It is advisable that mobile device users do not use open or free WiFi for their very important business such as bank transactions, shopping and among others.



SA/MA