Am I safe online?

In the 2019 Global Digital Report, the Philippines had the highest social media usage rate in the country, with users spending an average of nearly four hours on social media each day. Additionally, the the country also ranks first in the highest internet usage rate, clocking in at around 10 hours. With the rate of social media (and internet) users and usage soaring, cyber attacks become more and more commonplace.

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Trend Micro, a company that specializes in cyber security, warns that the steps social media companies have taken to fight fake news will not be enough to keep up with the deluge of cyber propaganda.

In its latest predictions report, “Mapping the Future: Dealing with Pervasive and Persistent Threats”, Trend Micro adds that dwindling time, language barriers in large geographical areas and the  development of more advanced editing software for audio and video is making it increasingly challenging for governments to fight fake news on social media.

Cases of corporate blackmail in the form of online smear campaigns against brands have also been reported with attackers demanding ransom to cease spreading “fake news”-style propaganda against target brands.

“Cybercriminals will continue to follow a winning formula–exploit existing flaws, social engineering, and stolen credentials–to drive profits,” said Ian Felipe, Country Manager for Trend Micro Philippines. “As both corporate attacks surface and unknown cyber threats increase, it’s more important than ever for organizations to put more resources behind cybersecurity education to help protect against these growing attacks.”

Cyber criminals target anyone—from online influencers to businesses. Those who have a wide following on social media may be at risk for having their accounts taken over and their followers also infected via phishing campaigns and distributed denial of service (DDoS) or cryptocurrency mining. Artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to anticipate the movements of top-level executives: from when and where corporate executives are expected to be in the future—and this information is used to craft targeted attacks.

Felipe further emphasizes that a user’s ability to distinguish truth from untruth, particularly on the internet, is key to preventing the spread of misinformation.

Social engineering essentially relies on the same human weaknesses, so users must apply the same level of critical thinking necessary in their social media consumption to their diligence in checking whether an email or a phone call is indeed coming from a trusted source.

Source:  Trend Micro’s 2019 Cyber Security Predictions