{"id":1126,"date":"2022-06-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-31T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-08-21T10:54:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T08:54:22","slug":"four-cybercrime-trends-south-african","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/four-cybercrime-trends-south-african\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Cybercrime Trends that every South African must be aware of"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cybercrime is making headlines again after the recent TransUnion data breach affected 3 million consumers and 600,000 businesses. Not all cybercrime trends make the news, however, which means the truth about what\u2019s really happening is actually a far bigger problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-rank-math-toc-block\" id=\"rank-math-toc\"><h4>TABLE OF CONTENTS<\/h4><nav><ul><li><a href=\"#4-cybercrime-trends-that-are-currently-making-the-rounds\">4 Cybercrime Trends that are currently making the rounds:<\/a><ul><li><a href=\"#1-travellers-are-hot-pickings\">1. Travellers are hot pickings<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#2-mobile-attacks-are-on-the-rise\">2. Mobile attacks are on the rise<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#3-social-media-is-helping-cybercriminals-create-better-attacks\">3. Social Media is helping cybercriminals create better attacks<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#4-cybercriminals-are-using-deepfake-technology\">4. Cybercriminals are using Deepfake Technology<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iol.co.za\/ios\/news\/surge-in-email-scams-cb766f4a-abaa-4b39-b851-85499e6bae8b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mimecast\u2019s \u201cState of Email Security<\/a>&#8220;, they report that 92% of South African businesses have experienced some form of impersonation fraud, or Business Email Compromise, over the past year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As hybrid and remote working conditions are on the rise so are cybercrime trends, companies\u2019 IT &amp; Security teams need to question all protocols that are in place and train employees continuously. The introduction of the Government\u2019s Cybercrimes Act and POPI Act (POPIA) are steps in the right direction, but the onus is ultimately on companies to ramp up their cyber security and implement disaster management protocols. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2022-05-02-only-40-of-businesses-have-multiple-solutions-to-protect-against-cybercrime-analyst\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Arthur Goldstruck from World Wide Worx<\/a>, only 40% of large businesses implement multiple security solutions to protect, back up, and recover data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you thought <a href=\"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/cybercrimes-what-are-the-latest-trends-in-south-africa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cybercrime<\/a> trends were just for businesses to worry about, think again! You and the company you work for are both targets. Cybercrime has become a very lucrative business, which is why their attacks are becoming more sophisticated and targeted, and it seems as though they are definitely picking up the pace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"4-cybercrime-trends-that-are-currently-making-the-rounds\">4 Cybercrime Trends that are currently making the rounds:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here are the four cybercrime trends every South Africa should be watching out for: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"1-travellers-are-hot-pickings\">1. Travellers are hot pickings<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether you are travelling for work or pleasure (locally or abroad) \u2013 be cautious. Cybercriminals are targeting travellers because they realise these individuals aren\u2019t familiar with their location and have to carry a lot of personal data and documents with them. Do your planning properly, and never leave any item of yours unattended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"2-mobile-attacks-are-on-the-rise\">2. Mobile attacks are on the rise<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mobile phones and devices are no longer just for communication purposes anymore. We use them to manage our lives, create and send work files, make online purchases, and even do our banking. The use of mobile wallets is becoming very popular, and people are now using their phones to store important documents and data, thus making this device an attractive target. Create strong passwords with two-factor authentication to protect yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"3-social-media-is-helping-cybercriminals-create-better-attacks\">3. Social Media is helping cybercriminals create better attacks<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What you share on social media could help cybercriminals better craft their personal attack against you. Regularly check and reset your Privacy Settings on <strong>all<\/strong> your social platforms and be restrictive about what you share in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"4-cybercriminals-are-using-deepfake-technology\">4. Cybercriminals are using Deepfake Technology<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Deepfake technology, is technology that uses artificial intelligence to manipulate images, video, and audio, to make it look and sound like someone is doing or saying something they are not. This technology is helping cyber criminals take their phishing attacks (email attacks) to the next level. They are also making use of this technology to clone websites, conduct vishing attacks (voice call attacks), and create fake news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although quite new in South Africa, deepfake technology is an incredible threat to businesses and consumers. Challenge phrases on suspicious-sounding calls, follow-up emails, and calls, and double-check everything if anything feels out of the ordinary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cybercrime is making headlines again after the recent TransUnion data breach affected 3 million consumers and 600,000 businesses. Not all cybercrime trends make the news, however, which means the truth about what\u2019s really happening is actually a far bigger problem. 4 Cybercrime Trends that are currently making the rounds:1. Travellers are hot pickings2. Mobile attacks are on the rise3. Social Media is helping cybercriminals create better attacks4. Cybercriminals are using Deepfake Technology According to Mimecast\u2019s \u201cState of Email Security&#8221;, they report that 92% of South African businesses have experienced some form of impersonation fraud, or Business Email Compromise, over the past year. As hybrid and remote working c <a alt='Four Cybercrime Trends that every South African must be aware of' title='Four Cybercrime Trends that every South African must be aware of' href='https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/four-cybercrime-trends-south-african\/' class='moreElipsis'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1282,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1010],"tags":[1536,1541,1537,1539,1540,1538],"class_list":["post-1126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ssl-certificates","tag-cybercrime-trends-are-on-the-rise","tag-deepfake-technology-is-fooling-everyone","tag-mimecast-039-s-email-security-report","tag-mobile-phone-breaches-and-attacks","tag-social-media-supplies-data-for-social-engineering-scams","tag-trans-union-data-breach"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1126"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3540,"href":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1126\/revisions\/3540"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}