The Death of PnB Rock — Cyber Safety
Safety practices while using the internet and social media platforms.
I read, with a special type of grief in my heart, about the death of the young, talented, and handsome US rapper PnB Rock who was shot at a restaurant in Los Angeles. From the different media reports, it is suggested that his killers were able to find his address after a location-tagged Instagram photo of the rapper and his partner may have revealed their location.
The death of PnB Rock was so painful knowing that his death could have possibly been averted if there were some cyber-safety practices in place considering the fact that he was recently threatened in a similar situation not too long ago.
It is not unusual to get carried away posting pictures of ourselves while having fun, hanging out with friends and family, colleagues, visiting a special place or even travelling on social media. But we need to understand and create more awareness of how the internet has evolved into one big space with many unknown neighbours that could pose a significant threat to us and snooping around our private lives.
Watch what you post! Watch where you surf!
Have you heard of OSINT? Open Source Intelligence. Or you may have heard of GEOINT? Geospatial Intelligence. Attacks, whether cyber or not, usually begin with a reconnaissance phase where a potential attacker tries to gather as much information about a target from sources which are mostly publicly available or even provided on the internet by the potential victim.
With basic OSINT skills, a lot could be discovered on any active internet user within a short amount of time. This can however be mitigated if we become more conscious of how our activities on the internet could pose a significant threat to us or the people around us.
We’ve seen individuals who mistakenly exposed their credit card details in a photo they posted on the internet. Victims who were first profiled or even impersonated by their check-ins, photos, and activities on social media platforms before an attack was targeted at them.
Subsequently, we would be discussing some basic cyber-safety practices that could go a long way in protecting our privacy which could be as basic as checking app permissions on our smartphones, metadata in photos, preventing should-surfing in public, and other day-to-day cyber-safety and security tips.
RIP PnB Rock. 💔
