Wasn't me: Shaggy-inspired viral fraud alert drives it home

A video ad by a Dubai bank creatively reminds us that cybersecurity is largely our own responsibility

It'll be rather audacious for anyone to believe that due diligence and vigilance would have completely prevented some of the world's largest cyberattacks. Sometimes, breaches occur for no fault of the individual user - like the 2013 Yahoo! hack that exposed the data of all of its users. Nothing that any of its three billion users did or didn't do would have prevented the hack, which was effected using a stolen tool to create malicious cookies and log in without passwords.
But when it comes to our individual bank accounts, credit cards, and other financial tools, our cybersecurity largely rests with us. Unless one is banking with a questionable operator registered in a high-risk foreign land, one's bank ought to have a bullet-proof system to avoid any unwanted intrusions, leaving the security as strong or as weak as the weakest link in the chain - the user.
While banks across the world undertake regular campaigns to educate their users on the financial pitfalls and cyber landmines to avoid, the message can get lost in the humdrum advertising and announcements. In the UAE, that failing may have just been corrected by a hilariously creative video advert/advisory issued by Emirates NBD Bank, in collaboration with the Dubai Police. The campaign, with a Shaggy-inspired video as its centrepiece, will be supported by public service ads across print, broadcast, outdoor, and social media by partners including Khaleej Times.
The crafty video is sung to the tune of Shaggy's 2000 hit It Wasn't Me and its adapted lyrics have been appreciated by the audience as a great way to drive the message home. Lyrics like How could I be so clumsy and click on that dubious link? and the bank manager's response (in Jamaican accent) -- Hackers and fraudsters are always lying in the wait-a and You better watch your back, don't fall for the bait-a -- may not be telling us anything that hasn't been told before but the delivery style surely keeps the audience's interest high. That's half the battle won, isn't it? Now let's win the other half by actually following the advice in those lyrics.