Introduction
Cybersecurity is the work of keeping computers, phones, networks, and the records on them from being read, changed, or held hostage. In East Africa that often means a handset, a mobile-money PIN, and a message that looks official.
- Personal records: photographs, messages, and account numbers.
- Money: a bank account or M-Pesa, Airtel Money, MTN Mobile Money, Tigo Pesa.
- A business’s customer list, and a country’s power, payments, and government systems.
The everyday threats here are familiar. A text pretends to be the mobile-money service and asks you to send cash back. A mail pretends to be a bank or an office. An open Wi-Fi lets someone watch the session. A lookalike app sends messages or reads the phone.
Use a different password for each account that matters. Update the phone. Treat surprise calls with suspicion. Keep a copy of the files you cannot lose.
Passwords
A strong password is long and not a fact about you. Three habits cover most people.
- Take a sentence you can remember and use the initials, then add a number and a symbol.
- Or join three unrelated words with a number.
- Do not reuse the mobile-money PIN as the phone’s unlock code, and do not use 1234, 0000, or a birth year.
Two-factor authentication asks for the password and a second proof, usually a code on your phone. Turn it on for mail, banking, and social accounts. A stolen password is then not enough.
Phishing
Phishing is a message, a page, or a call that borrows the look of a bank, a tax office, or a phone company. The aim is your password, your PIN, or a transfer.
- Mail that copies a logo and urges you to click today.
- SMS with a shortened link and a prize, a parcel, or a blocked account.
- A caller who already knows your name and asks for the PIN “to confirm”.
The real mobile-money service does not ask for your PIN on the phone. Open the app yourself. Do not follow the link in the message.
Mobile money
A few scripts show up again and again.
- The mistaken transfer. Someone sends you money, then calls to say it was an error and asks you to reverse it. The first transfer is reversed by the company later. Your payment to them is not.
- The agent on the line. They claim to be M-Pesa, Airtel, or MTN and ask for the PIN. Customer care does not do that.
- The prize. You have won, if you first send a small fee. There is no prize.
- The new SIM. They persuade the network to move your number, then open the wallet. Report a lost phone at once, and watch balances.
Check the number before you send. Read the confirmation SMS. Use official agents. Cover the screen when you enter a PIN in public.
For children
The internet is a large playground. The rules are the same as the street: you look before you cross, and you tell an adult when something feels wrong.
- Do not share your real name, school, or home address with someone you only know online.
- Do not accept a friend request from a stranger, and do not send them a photograph.
- If someone asks to meet, tell an adult immediately.
- If someone is unkind, leave the chat and tell an adult. You do not have to answer.
- Before you post a picture, ask whether you would want a teacher to see it, and whether it shows where you are right now.