Last updated on January 5, 2023
Volume 01 Issue 01 – 20th May 2020
Defense Against COVID-19 Cyber Threats
Cybercriminals take advantage of the current COVID-19 outbreak (coronavirus disease) targeting both individuals and enterprises locally and worldwide. A large number of phishing and malware attacks have been reported with this circumstance. Due to restricted movements, people are more towards using online portals for banking, utility payments, and shopping. Therefore, the vulnerabilities of being attacked in those platforms can be identified. Plus the practice of working from home has led to the mismanagement of enterprise systems.
How to Stay Safe from Social Engineering Attacks
- Do not click any links on emails. The link location may differ from what it appears to be
- Do not click any links on Chat messages (IM) from unknown senders or with unusual descriptions or requests
- Use Unique & Strong passwords for all accounts (How do you select a strong password and protect it?)
- Use Password Managers and properly secure them
- Use Multi-Factor Authentication every possible occasion which often called Two-factor Authentication or Two-Step Verification
- Always check for correct URLs multiple times when you do online banking / online shopping and utility bill payments to avoid phishing attacks. (How to decide whether it is a fake or real website?)
- Make sure your Antivirus Solution is properly installed and have latest signature updates
- Make sure the latest security updates are installed not only for your operating system, but every application installed in your Computer or Mobile Devices.
- Use trusted Wi-Fi connections like your home internet or mobile data service from your telecommunications provider.
- Secure your devices when not in use. This can be done by locking your computer when it is unattended or maintaining separate user accounts with unique passwords if a machine is shared. Otherwise, important information may be shared or deleted unintentionally by the other household members or even malicious software may be introduced to your device.
- Always get information from legitimate sources, not from social media.
Almost 4.57 billion people were active internet users as of April 2020, encompassing 59 % of the global population.
Enabling two factor authentication to be on alert if someone is accessing your email account from another device.
Google recently released a security warning for Chrome users across Windows, Mac, and Linux with a new security fix.
A new version of text bomb bug has the potential to cause widespread problems to iOS users. The crash can be triggered by a notification from any app, including Messages, WhatsApp, Twitter, or through SMS upon receive on a collection of characters in the Sindhi language and emojis.
Dream of a money box
(Some names and details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.)
James got an email from an Afghan soldier, who had no relatives and therefore, was looking for a reliable partner to share a cash box of US$ 2.8 million, she found during the war. James was feeling lucky at that moment since he didn’t need to work hard to get it and provided the personal information she requested.
However, he got stuck at the point where he had to pay a clearance charge to make his money box dream come true, Fortunately he heard of a trending scam like this through Hithawathi and had a chat with us to verify the matter.
As per our guidance, James realized that he was saved from a big scammer and appreciated our services a lot.
‘Hithawathi’ becomes a Trusted Partner of Facebook which is the major social media platform in Sri Lanka
Comment the correct answer and win a data card from Hithawathi by visiting our Facebook page every Friday, Saturday & Sunday.
Awareness Programmes
Hithawathi @ Suhuruliya District Forum – Moneragala 29th January 2020 – Collaboration with ICTA & Ministry of Women and Child Affairs.
Venue: Monergala District Secretariat
Participants: Women entrepreneur , youth societies
