Africa-Press – Lesotho. The internet has restructured how people communicate, it has opened doors that the world never thought were possible and presented everyone with an opportunity for global reach.
This development has, however brought about insecurities as any people nowadays use smartphones to communicate with friends, family and brands on social media.
As part of an ongoing global awareness on issues of Cyber security, Botho University student Selekane Khaile left Lesotho for Greece last week to participate in the African Cyber Security Competition which involves 13 other
countries, in the preliminary stage. Khaile is part of the final 15 remaining for the global competition hosted by Greece, Athens. In an interview with Global Foundation for
Cyber security Studies Researcher Rethabile Tšephe, Informative Newspaper learned that the low cost, easy access, and anonymous nature of using a smartphone and internet attracts fraudulent scams, cyber
bullying and cyber stalking “Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn, all have mobile apps which a user can download from their phones’ app store.
These apps make provision of smartphone users to post personal updates and photos while on the go,” she said. Tšephe stressed that commonly smartphones are used for health and wellness tracking.
The health apps for instance, keep track and records of sleep behavior, nutrition, body measurements, vital signs, mental health exercises, digital balance and more.
“Mobile payment is another widespread use for smartphones. Smartphones allow us to listen to audio books, one of the most
convenient way to learn a day at a time while multitasking. You have an opportunity to learn a new language using a smartphone. These language apps are child
friendly and are also used by adults who are into travel and perhaps want to improve their language skills,” she informed. She further highlighted that “Smartphones help us
organize our lives, and save time. To be honest carrying a diary at all times is not always possible or ideal. Not to mention the possibility of misplacing or losing it in the long run.
It’s always good to have a back-up on your phone, and let’s face it, we can’t deny how convenient it is to get a reminder on the phone the day before, or half an hour
before a meeting. It just makes our increasingly busy lives a whole lot easier” According to Surveys and Trade in Data Report 2021, the number of smartphone users in the world today is 3.8 Billion, which
translates to 48.16% of the world’s population. In total, the number of people who own smartphones is 4.88 Billion, making up 61.85% of the world’s population.
This report further states that the unprecedented effects of Covid-19 forced people to rethink, and reassess their relationship with Smartphones. With the high demand of having a digital image on a personal
and professional context, it is important to understand what smart phones can and cannot do for users, because it allows them to trace where they come from.
On the best practices for Digital Safety and Security while using mobile phones, Sahara Geeks Network Coordinator Christopher Musodza pointed out that sent text messages can be intercepted by the
service operator or by third parties with inexpensive equipment and those messages will carry the phone numbers of the sender and recipient as well as
the content of the message. “What’s more, text messages can easily be altered or forged by third parties. Consider establishing a code system between you and
your recipients. Codes may make your communication more secure and may provide an additional way of confirming the identity of the person you’re communicating
with. Code systems need to be secure and change frequently. In many countries, legislation (or other influences) require the network providers to keep a
long-term record of all text messages sent by their customers. In most cases SMS messages are kept by the providers for business, accounting or dispute
purposes,” Musodza informed. He recommended deleting all received and sent messages straightaway because saved messages can easily be accessed by anybody
who gets hold of one’s phone. He said some phones have the facility to disable the logging of phone-call or text-message history and this would be useful for
people doing more sensitive work. According to ‘The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Cyber psychology & Well-being’ study that was conducted in July 2021 by Rani Sheilagh Dunn, Marvin Dadischeck
and Rethabile Tšephe for Global Foundation for Cyber Studies and Research: In Lesotho, Internet penetration stood at 44% of the total population, with 946,300 internet users in 2020.
This showed an increase of 84,000 thousand or +9.8% between 2019 and 2020. At the start of 2021, the global population was 7.83 billion, 5.2 billion people or 66.6 percent of the world’s population, use
a mobile phone. 4.6 billion people around the world use the internet, with global internet penetration now at 59.5 percent, 4.2 billion social media users
around the world. The number of social media users is now equivalent to more than 53 percent of the world’s total population. The digital landscape in Lesotho is suffering
and as such opportunities are potentially limited. Violation of human rights, including crimes against children, woman and men of extreme acts of violence,
bullying, rape and abuse circulate on social media. Victims are further traumatized in these digital spaces and trauma spreads to anyone who has intentionally or
unintentionally viewed these disturbing images online. There are also ongoing incidents of cyberbullying, cyber stalking and scams. Unfortunately, due to limited resources and
lack of cyber education and infrastructure, these issues remain unaddressed. More-so, with the absence of cyber psychology studies and research in Lesotho data
related to these activities is minimal and inconclusive. As a result, police task teams and the national security services are unable to carry out extensive
investigations to identify perpetrators of these crimes. Additionally, no appropriate framework yet exists to provide protection, support or treatment.
The lack of technological cognizance of the Lesotho government to implement an effective cyber security and cybercrime bill will buy in from all stakeholders appears incompetent on the global stage and
has left its citizens, residents and visitors especially vulnerable on social media and cyber platforms. The insights and skills gained from meeting these challenges can be harnessed, along with the adoption of cyber psychology
actions and the promotion of digital well-being, to rapidly achieve a cyber-competent society in Lesotho and has applications across the entire continent of Africa, as well as making meaningful contributions to cyber knowledge within the wider global community.
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