When Jane Katungi received a brand-new laptop and a smartphone as part of her home working package, she was elated. “Every crisis comes with a silver lining”, she whispered to a friend as she packed her newly acquired gadgets as she moved her office to home. The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way people live, work, and communicate. Traditional leadership styles have been disrupted too. Every disruption brings opportunities and threats. Whereas Jane’s employer was flexible and agile in providing the required capabilities in terms of a laptop and a smartphone to act as a modem to connect to the…
#covid19 cyber threats and attack vectors: how to be secure
Criminals attack when they are least expected. As you go about your business, someone somewhere is hatching a plan to steal from you. You must stay ready. #covid19 pandemic has disrupted the world in ways no one could have predicted. People are struggling for survival. A starving man has no option: to fight for survival at any cost. With social distancing and night curfew in place, criminals too have embraced the use of technology to eke a living. And that is why you must be more alert than ever to anticipate and manage cyber threats. Hackers are working around the…
The modern warfare: are you safe?
Countries are winning war daily. Covertly through modern warfare: espionage and open source intelligence. Whereas espionage may involve deliberate effort to infiltrate another country, modern warfare has transformed how espionage is done. We are in the era of cyber warfare. In the past, winning a war was about numbers: how many headcounts of soldiers a country hard. How expensive and versatile its armoury was. And how well trained and battle-hardened her soldiers were. This is still important but not critical. It is increasingly clear; soldier’s headcount numbers are important for managing internal dissent as opposed to global enemies and warfare.…
Project frontline: the common schemes cybercriminals use
Cybercrime is on the rise. Anyone is a potential victim. Many people are not yet victims of cybercrime because no one is yet interested in attacking them. In these articles, technical cybercrime terms are made simple. Every criminal has a motive for the crime – is it money, revenge, or crime for hire or just a cybercriminal at work for a social cause or to make a point? If you don’t have money or just have enough to live by, no one may be interested in compromising your on-line banking or hacking into your internet and mobile banking. The benefits…
Cybersecurity: Safeguarding data
First Appeared in TODAY’S Accountant The Magazine for The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU) ISSUE 19, AUGUST 2019 pg.44 He posted a WhatsApp message to a lady friend: “Here is the company’s payroll. Treat as confidential. Love you!” The lady immediately forwarded to another friend. “These guys are ripping us off. UGX 50m net for one person monthly. We went to the wrong schools. The payroll attached may make you dizzy, read while seated. Xoxo.” Within a month, the payroll, one of the documents classified as “confidential” was a subject of an article in an online publication.…
Is your cyber hygiene adequate?
Before you eat food at any restaurant, you mind about the hygiene of the place. This saves you from some diseases. When it comes to sending that WhatsApp message, how do you check the hygiene of your connection or device? If you use any device -mobile phone or laptop – that connects to the Internet, you are vulnerable to cybersecurity risks. You could easily fall victim to phishing or pharming, leading to identity theft. No one is safe. To this end, the Institue of Forensics & ICT Security, in partnership with the National Information Technology Authority, has organized a third…
