The Norwegian-Vietnamese influencer, who offers interior design advice and loves couture fashion, participated in the recent “get to know me” challenge on social media.

The diminutive beauty says she’s 29 years old, 157cm tall, wears size 36 shoes and has a son called Theo. A few of her favourite things include sushi, whiskey, the colour yellow and listening to Beyoncé.

The viral “get to know me” trend began in December with a list of questions that circulated on social media, asking influencers to answer questions ranging from how many tattoos they have to what their favourite season is. Most celebrities were happy to oblige, seeing it as a way for others to get to know them better. Alexandra’s “get to know me” video, showing her sitting on a plane looking glamorous, garnered over 31,000 views, significantly more than the 22,000 views she got for a similar “random facts about me” post.

What are the dangers?

While the trend might seem innocuous, the inadvertent disclosure of intimate details of your life can make you vulnerable to cyberattacks, says Anna Collard, SVP Content Strategy and Evangelist at KnowBe4 AFRICA, a cybersecurity training designer.

“Apart from being collected, analysed and sold for advertising, your personal information, likes and behaviour profiles are also interesting to fraudsters who collect this information to potentially abuse it to gain access to your accounts,” she states.

Proof of this are the more than 90,000 people who fell victim to social media fraud in 2021, resulting in $770 million in losses, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

“A lot of the information you’d share in a get-to-know-me post is identical to these security questions your bank might ask you,” comments Collard. “This data is a veritable goldmine for scammers looking for a way to gain access to your accounts.”

How many people use their child, partner or pet’s name as part of their password, for instance? Armed with more information about you, fraudsters could use phishing emails to impersonate you to con your followers into downloading malware, falling for an investment scam or revealing too many details.

Or they could set up convincing fake accounts in your name, a common problem for celebrities, and then DM fans in an attempt to scam them.

What should you do?

The best way to avoid the dangers of this trend is simply not to engage in it, according to Collard. “I know there’s a feeling that social media influencers need to be more authentic and vulnerable, but you also don’t want to overshare,” she says. “You certainly don’t want people to know where you live or have stalkers follow your kids to school.”

“Social media influencers get paid according to how big their audience is, so it’s understandable that they want to grow their number of views by following popular trends,” asserts Collard. “But this shouldn’t be done at any price, especially when it comes to divulging sensitive information.”

When someone is ready to open their heart to love again, the search for a meaningful connection can lead them down unexpected paths.

Living in a quiet town with limited romantic opportunities, the idea of finding love online seemed like a promising option for Talitha (not her real name).

However, the safety concern loomed large. “I heard horror stories of people being attacked at their first meeting or being seen simply as a sugar mommy,” she shares.

In pursuit of a genuine connection that aligned with her values, Talitha joined a Christian dating app. “It gave warnings not to give out your cell phone number or pay people money,” she says.

After creating a brief bio and sharing five photos, Talitha began conversing with potential matches.

She maintained a careful and watchful approach, eventually meeting someone in person after three weeks of messaging, proving that genuine love can be discovered through digital means.

Don’t give away too much

“It’s important to be honest about who you are and what you are looking for on dating apps, but not give too much away,” asserts Anna Collard, SVP Content Strategy and Evangelist at KnowBe4 AFRICA. Like Talitha, she thinks it is a good idea to stay on the app and not hastily switch the conversation to WhatsApp. If someone does anything inappropriate, report it to the dating app and promptly block them.

“You can also verify profile photos by doing a reverse image search,” she advises. “If someone who looks like a model,  has a PhD and falls in love with you  too quickly, it might be too good to be true.”

Watch out for red flags

The primary threat on dating apps is the fraudsters who are out there to get you. “Be circumspect about sharing your personal information, like where you live or your cell phone number,” cautions Collard.

Romance fraudsters often collaborate with cryptocurrency scams and employ tactics like professing love without having met you.

They may then request money under false pretences, such as claiming it is for their sick mother or for investing in a cryptocurrency scheme.

“It is important to be aware of red flags like somebody claiming they live on an oil rig or in the army and that is why they cannot meet you in person,” says Anna. “They may try to win your trust by saying they have invested money for you in their cryptocurrency scheme and then later ask you to also invest.”

According to statistics from the Federal Trade Commission, nearly 20% of Americans who fell victim to romance fraud in 2022 stated that they made initial contact through a dating app.

In contrast, 40% stated that the fraudulent activity started on social media platforms such as Facebook. Collard advises, “No matter how you are contacted, stay vigilant and don’t let your guard down.”

“When meeting in person, make sure it is in a public place and that you have told a friend or family member where you are going,” she adds. “Charge your cell phone beforehand and go in your car.”

While caution is necessary when using a dating app, remain receptive to new opportunities. Like Talitha, you might be one of the lucky ones to find love. “Meeting up for the first time was surprisingly wonderful, as we felt like old friends,” Talitha says. “We fell in love and intend to get married later this year.”

ChatGPT has had more airtime than the world’s most renowned celebrity. Its arrival has sparked questions and concerns that some did not even think to ask, including if it is a threat to our critical thinking skills.

Write this essay. Complete this analysis. Unpack the meaning behind this excerpt. These are all sentences that bring horror to those who do homework – lengthy essays about things that students are not sure they care about, and that many do not see the point in doing in the first place.

This homework is not designed to be terrifying; it is designed to ignite the mind and critical thinking; to challenge students to form their own opinions and then using research and cognitive thinking to back them up. Currently, this is being threatened by tools like ChatGPT.

Yet, artificial intelligence (AI) tools are here to stay so instead of seeing it as a threat, it should be seen as an asset, but one that supports cognitive growth and memory function rather than replacing it, says Anna Collard, SVP Content Strategy & Evangelist at KnowBe4 AFRICA.

“Research by George Millar in 1956 found that the average person can only keep around seven items in their working memory,” she explains. “Miller’s Law of seven plus-minus two means up to nine or as little as five items are the limit of a human’s processing abilities. Today, that number has gone down to four. This research, along with other academic papers and analyses, points to reduced memory due to an over reliance on technology also called the Google effect,” explains Collard.

This is a concern, one that has grown increasingly vocal over the past year as educators and researchers have pondered the impact of technology, and now AI, on cognitive behaviour and memory retention. However, it is also balanced by research that has pointed out that actually, human beings have been outsourcing their memory to various materials and solutions for centuries. Paper, parchment, papyrus and wood are some prime examples. Modern technology is no different. It can be a tool to bolster memory and make it far easier for humans to manage lives that are deluged by information, noise and digital clutter.

“The research goes in both directions, suggesting that technology is both an enabler and an inhibitor of human memory,” says Collard. “This points to the fact that actually, the impact does not lie in using it, but in how it is used or, in the case of ChatGPT, abused. The latter can be an immensely useful tool that supports students in their research and studies, but if it becomes the sole source of information and does all the writing for them, that is where the problems start.”

Nowadays, remembering where you found a fact has become more important than remembering the fact itself. This translates directly into the biggest challenge with ChatGPT – it is vague on its sources and often out of date, which means that it rarely is as accurate as it needs to be.

“ChatGPT uses machine learning to infer information and this introduces inaccuracies,” says Collard. “If you ask ChatGPT what happens if you break a mirror, it replies with ‘You will have seven years of bad luck’. This is not a fact; it is based on superstition. If users do not constantly check the factual accuracy of ChatGPT, they run the risk of sharing fake news, inaccurate information and even conspiracy theories.”

The TruthfulQA benchmark test has found that most generative models are only truthful 25% of the time, according to the 2022 Stanford University Artificial Intelligence Index Report.

This means over reliance on technology such as ChatGPT is simply going to make the student’s work look stupid. However, that is not enough to stop people from turning to tech when they are tired, overwhelmed or lazy, which means that the best approach is to embrace it.

“Do not ban it, rather teach students how to use it within practical guidelines and policies that help them to enhance their understanding of AI and this type of tool,” concludes Collard. “This will enhance their own critical thinking skills by asking them to question the sources, content, truthfulness and accuracy of the content that the platform serves up to them, and it will turn the threat into an opportunity.”

The 2021 KnowBe4 African Cyberthreat Report focused on key metrics around cybersecurity awareness and behaviours to gain a holistic view of the continent’s cyber stance and how users perceived the threats.

Key findings:

• The pandemic is still playing a major role in influencing working behaviours and patterns.
• Only 38% of respondents have returned to their offices or are accessing the internet from their office network;
• 55% continue to work from home;
• 32% of respondents were affected by cybercrime while working from home, and one-third (33%) of the attacks were social engineering;
• The number of people concerned about cybercrime has risen to 72%.

Collating insights from 763 respondents across South Africa, Botswana, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mauritius and Nigeria, the report highlights some of the gaps that remain in security awareness in spite of the risks posed by the pandemic and the evolution of hybrid working frameworks.

“The pandemic remains a central issue for most users when it comes to how they plan to work and live in the future,” says Anna Collard, SVP Content Strategy & Evangelist KnowBe4 Africa. “This year, nearly 55% plan to continue working from home. Respondents are increasingly concerned about the risk of cybercrime at 72%, however, the trend this year has been an increase in overall security confidence, which is not necessarily earned. People think they know more than they do and this is causing issues.”

The challenge is that people are still taking unnecessary risks, in spite of their growing awareness and understanding of cybercrime. Around 10% are very likely to share their personal information and 54% will trust an email from someone they know, even though 36% have fallen for a phishing email and 55% have had a malware infection.

These numbers are up from 2020, and are compounded by the fact that most users believe that they can confidently identify a security incident (44%) but only 46% could accurately identify ransomware – a small drop from 2020 at 47%.

The concern is that more than 30% of users do not know what two-factor authentication is, 40% are not using a secure password – 20% believed that P@$$word! was a strong password – and yet 63% use their mobile devices to do payments or banking. They are putting themselves at risk with poor password hygiene and limited security controls.

“Email remains one of the biggest security threats,” says Collard. “People are still very trusting of emails they have received from people they know (54%, up 2% from 2020), even though those email accounts could have been impersonated or hacked. There is definite need to educate people around the rising social engineering threats around emails, social media, chat apps and the phone (vishing).

The report found that while people are paying more attention to security, they are still falling prey to scams and attacks that they could have avoided. From social engineering to investment scams, the threats are gaining ground. Considering that around 34% have lost money because they fell victim to a scam, and 26% have experienced a social engineering attack over the phone, it is clear that cybercriminals remain determined to use any means necessary to catch people unaware.

“For organisations, it has become critical that they train employees around security best practices and the various methodologies used by the cybercriminal,” concludes Collard. “People need more help in learning about how to stay safe online at home, the office and on the road. Perhaps the worst mistake is that they believe they are security smart and can identify the risks, when they actually cannot. This is putting both them and their company at risk.”

Building a security culture, or in other words, strengthening the human defence layer and making them aware of how to detect and prevent social engineering attacks is a crucial element in organisational cybersecurity posture, especially as many people continue to work from home.