Facebook expert warns users of hacking risk
SOUTH African social media users are particularly at risk of being hacked as a result of poor digital literacy.
Facebook safety policy manager for Africa‚ Julie de Bailliencourt‚ said raising awareness on how to protect user accounts was a particular concern for the company in South Africa.
De Bailliencourt was in the country for a series of seminars to engage with NGOs and other stakeholders on the issue of online safety.
Her visit came in a week when popular radio host and author‚ Redi Tlhabi‚ had her personal Twitter account hacked while she was in New York to facilitate a series of United Nations conversations.
De Bailliencourt said the social media company‚ which has more than two billion users worldwide and 16 million active monthly users in South Africa‚ could only do so much to protect users from being hacked but that education was important for being safe online.
“For hacking‚ we’re trying to raise awareness on not sharing your password with your friends or partner‚” she said.
“Because we can put the best safety mechanisms in place but if you’re going to share your password‚ then it undoes a lot of the good practices.
“There’s also a huge focus on education‚ so digital literacy is important.” Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention researcher Joanne Phyfer said that in a recent study, the organisation had found some alarming statistics when it came to South Africans’ online use – especially among children.
“A lot of kids are meeting strangers on the internet‚” Phyfer‚ who took part in the Facebook talks, said.
“Almost half of the kids had met someone they don’t know‚ and almost half of those had actually gone and met the person offline.”
“When we compared parents and children, we found that parents’ level of skill was the same as a 12- to 14-year-old child.
“So for a parent to try and manage their children’s internet use can be quite difficult because once the child gets beyond the age of 14‚ then the child has progressed beyond the parent’s skill.”
Phyfer said South African adults were not good internet role models.
“What often shocks me is that adults can be very critical of children online and then they behave in far worse ways on the internet.”
De Bailliencourt said that engaging parents was important to ensure that they did not feel intimidated by the technology‚ and that they felt like they could talk to their kids about their interactions online.
Facebook plans to increase its global online content reviewers‚ who help develop rules around suitable online content for users to post‚ from 4 400 to 7 400.