Africa has become a fertile hunting ground for attacks looking to exploit weaknesses in organisations’ cyber defences and Zimbabwe has not been spared, Liquid Intelligent Technologies regional chief commercial officer, Central African Region, Ms Lorreta Songola has said.

Ms Songola said one of the myths surrounding cyber security was that SMEs do not need it to the same extent as larger enterprises do.

In a statement, people celebrate the cybersecurity awareness month which ends tomorrow, Ms Songola said SMEs were an attractive target for cybercriminals because they are perceived to have weaker security measures, and the impact of a successful breach can be devastating.

“For Zimbabwe’s SMEs, partnering with a cyber security provider like Liquid Intelligent Technologies is key,” she said.

“With its vast experience in safeguarding SMEs’ assets, Liquid’s cloud and cyber security solutions offer SMEs peace of mind and a 360-degree view of the entire business environment. Some of the top cyber security best practices, aligned with global standards, that Zimbabwe’s SMEs should be implementing include governance, identify, role and prevention.”

Ms Songola said prevention was the strongest defence as weak or stolen passwords were a common entry point for cybercriminals.

“Employees must use complex passwords that combine letters, numbers and special characters. Multi-factor authentication and regularly updating systems provide an added layer of protection,” she said.

“Breaches are often due to human error or a lack of awareness. Training employees to identify phishing emails, create strong passwords and report suspicious activities helps safeguard against these risks and build a culture of security awareness.”

She said unsecured Wi-Fi networks were an open invitation to cybercriminals so SMEs needed strong encryption that ensured only authorised devices could access the network, and a separate network for guests are some of the solutions to the challenge.