{"id":757417,"date":"2024-03-05T09:12:07","date_gmt":"2024-03-05T07:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=757417"},"modified":"2024-03-05T09:12:12","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T07:12:12","slug":"cipc-securing-accounts-after-major-hack-what-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/757417\/cipc-securing-accounts-after-major-hack-what-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"CIPC securing accounts after major hack &#8211; what you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>South Africa\u2019s Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) is adopting a new customer verification process as part of its damage control after having its systems hacked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group &#8211; an agency inside the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition where companies, co-operatives, and intellectual property are registered &#8211; reported having its systems compromised last week, where personal information of its clients and employees were exposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While CIPC claims that the breach was contained and curtailed, the alleged hackers told MyBroadband that this is not the case: they still have access to parts of the system, and information is still exposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They added that the security vulnerability that was exploited has existed since at least 2021. CIPC did not comment on the claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/security\/527499-hackers-who-breached-south-africas-companies-database-say-its-much-worse-than-anyone-knows.html\"><strong>Read what the CIPC hackers had to say here.<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Regardless, CIPC urged clients to be vigilant in the monitoring of credit card transactions and to only approve\/authorise known and valid transaction requests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The extent of the exposure is being investigated and will be communicated as soon as possible,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the latest update, the group said that, in line with securing customer accounts, it has implemented a new customer verification process for SA ID holders as well as Foreign Passport holders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The process will be as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A. Clients with a South African ID number<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1. Customers will log in using existing credentials on existing platforms.<br>2. Upon login, customers will be presented with a verification page. Customers must:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Provide all necessary information which is mandatory.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>3. Once all provided information is verified, a password reset page will be presented, and they will be required to update their password.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u00a0Follow the instructions for \u201cpassword minimum requirements\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u00a0In instances where customers need to update their contact details, follow \u201cupdate contact details process\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>4. When customers input the new password and confirm new password, click on update.<br>5. An email link will be sent to the email address as listed by the customer, for verification.<br>6. Click the link to verify.<br>7. On successful verification, clients will now be able to log in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>B. Foreign Nationals \u2013 (passport numbers)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1. Customers will log in using existing credentials on existing platforms.<br>2. Upon login, customers will be presented with a verification page. Customers must:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&nbsp;Provide all necessary information, which is mandatory and click verify.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u00a0Follow the instructions for \u201cpassword minimum requirements\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u00a0In instances where customers need to update their contact details, follow \u201cupdate contact details\u00a0 process\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Once all provided information is verified and successful, a password reset page will be provided to update the password<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>3. If there is no record of passport details on CIPC\u2019s database, customers will be provided with a link to update passport details on the Foreigner Assurance process.<br>4. Once approved, they will be able to return after\u00a0<strong>48 hours<\/strong>\u00a0and then follow Step 2 above.<br>5. An email link will be sent to the email address as listed by the customer, for verification.<br>6. Click the link to verify.<br>7. On successful verification, clients will now be able to log in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/750372\/big-change-for-businesses-in-south-africa-hitting-soon-what-you-need-to-know\/\">Big change for businesses in South Africa hitting soon \u2013 what you need to know<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following a significant breach of CIPC security, the group is moving to secure accounts with a new login process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":572994,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-757417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=757417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":757427,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757417\/revisions\/757427"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=757417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=757417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=757417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}