Employment and Labour minister Thulas Nxesi says that government plans to ramp up its cybersecurity capabilities.<\/p>\n
Answering in a recent parliamentary Q&A, Nxesi said that the Department of Public Service and Administration has established a Standing Committee on Information Systems Security (SCISS), which is where all government departments are represented to discuss matters related to information security and cyber-security.<\/p>\n
“The SCISS has come up with an initiative of departments sharing resources and transferring skills to one another in matters relating to cybersecurity.<\/p>\n
“The initiative is still at the beginning stage where a database of cybersecurity specialists in the public sector is being developed,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Internal Information Security staff have also subscribed with other global threat security intelligent institutions i.e. Microsoft- Security Slate, Centre for Internet Security (CSI) and Hackers Choice, where we regularly receive ICT security-related awareness\u2019s, newsletters, information on vulnerabilities, viruses and data privacy related breaches that the department should be aware of.”<\/p>\n
Major attack<\/strong><\/p>\n The government’s IT capabilities have come into question in recent weeks after a cyberattack on Transnet\u2019s IT infrastructure caused activity at South Africa\u2019s ports to slow to a crawl.<\/p>\n The state-owned rail and port company was hit by a ransomware attack<\/a><\/strong> on 22 July, resulting in the shutting down of its computer systems.<\/p>\n The company told staff not to use laptops, desktops, and tablets connected to the Transnet domain and not access work emails from their personal devices.<\/p>\n Transnet declared\u00a0force majeure<\/em><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0on 27 July.\u00a0Force majeure<\/em>\u00a0is a common clause on contracts that frees all parties from liability when an extraordinary event occurs.<\/p>\n Information security firm Crowdstrike said that the ransomware note found on Transnet\u2019s systems\u00a0was similar to others<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0they had seen in recent months.<\/p>\n It is linked to ransomware strains known as \u201cDeath Kitty,\u201d \u201cHello Kitty,\u201d and \u201cFive Hands,\u201d said Adam Meyers, vice president of intelligence at Crowdstrike.<\/p>\n These strains were recently found targeting Polish video game maker\u00a0CD Projekt RED<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and exploiting security vulnerabilities in SonicWall products.<\/p>\n The attack on Transnet caused operations at its container terminals to grind to a near-standstill. With its IT systems shut off, Transnet had to fall back on manual systems to handle incoming and outgoing ships and the moving of containers.<\/p>\n
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