How to prevent being hacked

EVERY so often somebody embroiled in a firestorm over a jarring social media post responds with three words – “I was hacked.” But how easy is it to “hack” an account? Take‚ for example‚ a recent racist and homophobic tweet directed at Somizi‚ which unleashed a furious army of his supporters to hunt down a person who later said her account had been compromised.

Jabu Mtsweni‚ a cyber expert for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, said it was fairly easy for social media accounts to be accessed by someone else, mostly because of poor passwords used by the internet users.

“But [it is] also because today one can easily hire a hack on dark markets who can hack other people’s social media or e-mail accounts.

“There are many incidents of this‚ including our own current president‚ whose e-mail accounts were hacked‚” he said.

“The other main problem is that social media or e-mail accounts used by the general public are free and controlled by third parties‚ who sometimes do not take security seriously.

“Yahoo . . . has been hacked so many times in the past‚ exposing details of users publicly.

“Moreover‚ general users do not practise safe online behaviour‚ for example avoiding clicking on unknown links or adverts.

Craig Rosewarne, from Wolpack Risk, said the higher one’s public standing‚ the more vulnerable online accounts became.

Online users should also be cautious of e-mails received from social media sites requesting a password change, he warned. Rosewarne’s tips for improved online safety: ý Limit what you post online; ý Ensure that only your friends or followers can see your content; and

ý Use two-factor authentication. Most of the platforms have this option. – TimesLIVE