I find myself the victim of people’s corrupt nature. A few months ago my ID document was used to open an online service to the thief. Now my bank card has been cloned. The bank, in their effort to provide a safe service, advises clients not to have cash on their person but to use the card system recommend. But all my efforts to avoid being a victim of cyber crime have been in vain. How is it so easy for this to happen?
When purchasing anything online or doing any form of banking an OTP (One Time Password) number is sent by the bank, either to one’s cellphone or email address. The banks state to avoid catastrophic effects on your business and personal accounts their solution is to send the OTP via your choice of app, staying ahead of cyber crime. So this means that an intruder cannot access my account? Really? OTPs have replaced the traditional passwords, but clearly this is not a secure way. If one googles OTP it states:
“OTP generation algorithms typically make use of pseudo-randomness or randomness, making prediction of successor OTPs by an attacker difficult, and also hash functions, which can be used to derive a value but are hard to reverse and therefore difficult for an attacker to obtain the data that was used for the hash.”
If these fancy explanations are to be believed, then how did this cyber thief manage to buy online?
This incident has caused huge repercussions to my small business, as I had to stop the card at the bank’s fraud unit, then spend hours at the bank to open another account, inform all my clients to alter my details so that payments can be made.
The bank’s fraud unit did contact me and I have given them permission to go ahead with the fraud case. So do we now keep our hard-earned money under the mattress or in a tin under the floorboards as our forefathers did? Or do we take the chance and hope for the best? With the speed of technology and new technology appearing every day, we are all at war with cyber crime.
Sandy Sulter
For free daily local news in the south, visit our sister newspapers Alberton Record, Comaro Chronicle, Southern Courier and Get it Joburg South Magazine.
Remember to visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. You can also email our offices on cvdwalt@caxton.co.za, juliem@caxton.co.za or luckyt@caxton.co.za
Add us on WhatsApp today! Comaro Chronicle: 079 427 8074 and Southern Courier: 079 404 5789.
