Kaspersky Lab urges continuous cyber security education

14 August 2012; The architecture of the IT department for most companies has drastically changed over the past few years, and with the uptake of mobile devices and virtualisation security threats have altered. IT security therefore continues to remain a key challenge and priority for IT departments and today, the 14th of August 2012, this will be the topic of conversation at the IDC IT Security Roadshow being held in Johannesburg.

Worldwide, businesses have had to adapt to the influx of new technological trends such as cloud computing, virtualisation, and Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD). This has impacted on not only how IT managers approach security but also on how businesses and consumers need to understand the potential security risks associated with the increasing reliance on mobile devices and technological capabilities.

“While security experts tend to focus on future technologies for protecting potential threats, one still needs to be cognisant of incidents that have also happened in the past. By learning from these issues, we are able to build stronger and safer IT security communities for businesses and consumers alike,” says David Jacoby, Senior Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab and one of the presenters at the IDC IT Security Roadshow.

Although users acknowledge the existence of various online threats, they are generally still reckless when it comes to IT security*. In fact, it has been reported that approximately 16% of Microsoft-based laptop users, 50% of Macbook users, and 65% of smartphone users do not use any kind of security software on their devices. This indicates that consumers and businesses still need to be educated on the implications of not taking IT and online security seriously.

“Businesses and consumers are becoming more digitally advanced. As a security company, our responsibility should be to ensure that users are aware of the threats and dangers of the Internet and new technologies, as they continue to emerge. Educating users on such a simple thing as e-mail scams can have a ripple effect on the security landscape of a region,” adds Jacoby.

Knowledge is power and by educating people on the numerous threats and pitfalls the IT landscape has to offer, it is possible to create a society of cyber warriors to fight the fight for safe and secure Internet activity. But it is not just about educating the cyber community - it is important to continuously update the knowledge available to them to ensure a sustainable approach to IT security.