Riaan Badenhorst’s worst disappointment as a young man has led to a fairly successful career in IT security. There’s no doubt that the folks at Kaspersky Lab— currently the world’s fourth largest antivirus vendor, are rather pleased that Riaan’s childhood dreams didn’t come true. Today, Riaan heads up operations for Kaspersky Lab’s Africa Business— a position he’s occupied since late 2012. In his executive role, Riaan oversees Kaspersky Lab's operations in more than 40 countries across the sub-Saharan region. In this conversation, Riaan speaks to me about the increasingly complex challenges of ensuring the safety of internet users. Riaan also gives me his take on the growing trend towards the internet of things, and offers advice around the precautions we all ought to be taking to avoid succumbing to the dangers that lurk in the digital realm. Music Credits: All music by Brian Lupiya. Used with permission.