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Don’t get hacked; protect your WhatsApp account

08 October 2020 Photo Istock

Whatsapp security — It is important to be safe when using WhatsApp. Do not leave your phone unattended when you are not close by.

There are 2 billion WhatsApp users in the world, and 1,6 billion WhatsApp users access their accounts on a daily basis.

However, it is important to also be safe when using this popular communication tool.

According to Cobus van Jaarsveld, Assistant Director: Threat Detection, Investigations and Liaison in Protection Services, it does happen that people’s WhatsApp accounts get hacked; this is a serious violation of privacy.

“It means a third party now has unlimited access to your personal chats, information, media – and in some instances, they can also masquerade as you by deleting your chats, replying to your chats, and committing crimes. That’s just the tip of the iceberg of how harmful it can be to get hacked,” says Van Jaarsveld.

He adds: “Hackers can access your WhatsApp data by various means, e.g. via WhatsApp web or registering your number on another device.

The South African Police Service (SAPS) provided the following tips to prevent one’s WhatsApp from getting hacked:

• Log out from all computers that you see in the list under WhatsApp Web. This will stop hackers from further reading your chats. However, this should be done every time you use WhatsApp web.
• Do not leave your phone unattended when you are out.
• Lock all your apps to prevent unknown people from accessing your apps.
• Do not connect your phone to unknown Wi-Fi connections, as hackers can also use the unique MAC address to access all your WhatsApp chats.
• In case your WhatsApp has already been hacked, deactivate your account by emailing support@whatsapp.com. Your account will be automatically deleted if not accessed for 30 days.
• Enable two-step verification under your WhatsApp account settings. This will add an extra layer of security to the app.
• Lock WhatsApp. It is imperative to have the AppLocker that will help you lock your WhatsApp. While WhatsApp does not offer this application per se, you can download it and the app will facilitate the use of your WhatsApp with a password or PIN. This will help to prevent anyone who has access to your phone from accessing your WhatsApp account, since they will require a password to open it.

News Archive

UFS and BMF present a crash course on Financial Literacy for Young Entrepreneurs

2017-08-23

Starting a business, big or small, can be a really difficult task – especially if you are not equipped with the basic business knowledge to help you kick-start this project.

For this reason, the University of the Free State (UFS), in collaboration with the Black Management Forum (BMF), held a Financial Literacy Workshop for Young Entrepreneurs on the Bloemfontein Campus early last week to assist in this regard.

Young entrepreneurs equipped with business knowledge for start-ups
The purpose of the workshop, which was presented by Francois Marais and Eduard Loots from Riskflow, was to equip young entrepreneurs with knowledge and skills to assist them in the business world. The main focus was on training start-up businesses to prepare business plans, and training was given to researchers, developers, and innovators on how to commercialise their inventions.

Ansie Barnard, Senior Officer in the UFS Business School, says since the involvement of the school in entrepreneurship development over the past few years, they came to the realisation that many of these new businesses tend to fail within a year because they do not have a suitable financial model.

“This is the reason why we utilised Riskflow Financial Modelling Software, since it does all the accounting calculations on their behalf,” says Barnard.

Introduction to basic business banking
In addition to this, the participants were introduced to the basics of business banking, with Standard Bank and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) as the guest presenters providing them with this information.

BMF’s Rozanne Brown says that many of these young entrepreneurs have the desire to succeed in business; therefore there is a need for this type of workshop.

BMF and the UFS Business School will look into hosting more entrepreneurial workshops in the future,” says Brown. All attendees of the workshop will receive certificates for their participation.

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