Kenya now has over two million registered users on Facebook. Photo/FILE
By WINFRED KAGWE Posted Wednesday, May 19 2010 at 16:01
Despite their popularity especially among the youth, social networking sites pose the greatest threat to internet security.
Players estimate that by the end of the year, social media users will be the most vulnerable to different forms of cyber crime.
These are such as fraud, identity theft, spread of malware and even physical harm following updates on ones profile.
Mr Collin Mamdoo, chief operating officer of Internet Solutions (IS) said common cases of invitations from people with dubious names or receiving suspicious links is a cause of alarm.
“Local companies may be forced to put in measures such as blocking these applications to shut out unwanted browsing traffic to keep their systems safe,” he said.
Mr Mamdoo spoke in Nairobi during a seminar to address questions around internet security and how to protect organisations from attacks.
According to a recent research by Synovate, Kenya now has over two million registered users on Facebook only, this is 79 per cent of the total local internet users.
The number has doubled over the last two years meaning more people will get exposed soon.
More risks lie in usage of mobile phones now in the hands of about 20 million people.
Right basics
Despite these risks, Kenya is short on the regulatory, knowledge and technology foundation front to fight cyber threats.
“If we do not have the basics right, this broadband is going to hurt a lot of companies and individuals,” said Mr Jayson Finlayson, director of operations, Security risk Solution limited.
With four African countries already in the top 10 global figures on the FBI cyber crime list, Mr Finlay predicts that the increased usage of fibre optic cable could put Kenya on the list in the next two years time.
“In the short term, we are going to get worse on internet insecurity, experience an upsurge in cyber fraud as there are no mature rules yet,” he said.
Source: Daily Nation
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