By now, it’s well known that the IT systems of insurance giant, Liberty Life, were breached by cybercriminals late on Thursday 14 June.
David Munro, CEO of Liberty, had this to say regarding the attack: “It’s fair to say an event like this is not something one can prepare for specifically. The challenge every enterprise has globally is the confrontation from cyber criminals attacking on a regular basis. We have to understand that while these events are unwelcome, they will continue to become a regular part of corporate life.”
David Thomas, MD of identity verification and protection company ThisIsMe, comments: “Attacks like these are continuing to escalate and as Mr Munro stated, they are becoming a ‘regular part of corporate life’.
“It is a scary truth, but when trusted organisations who are charged with safeguarding consumers personal information, aren’t able to, what can you do? It has become the responsibility of every South African to take matters into their own hands and be proactive in protecting their own information.”
The first step is to make sure you are being smart about how you use your information online and stay up to date on the latest forms of cyber attack. Unfortunately, basic steps are often not enough as your information is exposed through breaches, which are out of your control.
This month sees the launch of FutureProtect, ThisIsMe’s comprehensive identity monitoring and protection product.
FutureProtect alerts users when their information is exposed in data breaches from all over the world. They may not be able to prevent information from being exposed in data breaches, but they can be alerted to it as early as possible and take active steps to protect themselves.
FutureProtect will also monitor and alert users if any changes are made to their credit profile, provide legal advice, cover restorative expenses such as legal fees and in the worst-case scenario where money is taken from your accounts, FutureProtect provides a range of “loss-of-funds” cover.