{"id":769972,"date":"2024-05-01T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-01T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=769972"},"modified":"2024-04-30T16:18:18","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T14:18:18","slug":"major-cyberattack-risks-for-businesses-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/internet\/769972\/major-cyberattack-risks-for-businesses-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Major cyberattack risks for businesses in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>South African businesses are less prepared for a cyberattack than a year ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the 2024 Cybersecurity Readiness Index by Cisco, only 5% of South African companies have ranked at the &#8216;Mature&#8217; level of readiness, which is required to be resilient against modern cybersecurity risks &#8211; sown by 19% year-on-year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Index looks at a company\u2019s readiness across five key pillars: Identity Intelligence, Network Resilience, Machine Trustworthiness, Cloud Reinforcement, and AI Fortification. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The study uses a survey with responses from 8,000 private sector security and business leaders across 30 global markets, with companies classified into four categories &#8211; Beginner, Formative, Progressive, and Mature.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/cisco-one.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"412\" height=\"526\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/cisco-one.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-769974\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/cisco-one.jpg 412w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/cisco-one-235x300.jpg 235w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 412px) 100vw, 412px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>\u201cToday\u2019s cybersecurity threats demand companies be prepared for potential breaches. The Index assesses preparedness, empowering them to adapt their cybersecurity infrastructure,\u201d said Kabelo Letsoalo, Cybersecurity Specialist at Cisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> \u201cOrganisations need to prioritise investments in integrated platforms and lean into AI to operate at machine scale and finally tip the scales in favour of defenders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second edition of the index was developed amid a rapidly changing threat landscape, with techniques ranging from phishing and ransomware to supply chain and social engineering attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-businesstech wp-block-embed-businesstech\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"4IhA7qrSXR\"><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/767059\/the-biggest-type-of-banking-fraud-in-south-africa\/\">The biggest type of banking fraud in South Africa<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;The biggest type of banking fraud in South Africa&#8221; &#8212; BusinessTech\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/767059\/the-biggest-type-of-banking-fraud-in-south-africa\/embed\/#?secret=6K3uKyb780#?secret=4IhA7qrSXR\" data-secret=\"4IhA7qrSXR\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>73% of companies in South Africa said that they expect a cybersecurity incident could disrupt their business in the next 12 to 24 months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is compounded in distributed working environments where data can be spread across limitless services, devices, applications, and users. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On top of this, only 31% of companies feel very confident that they will be able to defend against a cyberattack with their current infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe can\u2019t underestimate the threat posed by overconfidence,\u201d said Letsoalo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Preventative steps <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cisco thus provided five steps businesses can use to protect themselves from cybersecurity threats in the South African context:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&nbsp;<strong>Identify and assess vulnerabilities:<\/strong>&nbsp;By conducting a comprehensive audit of their current cybersecurity infrastructure, businesses can assess and close vulnerability gaps within their existing infrastructure and networks. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Investing in acceptable cybersecurity infrastructure:&nbsp;<\/strong>Companies could accelerate investment in protective cybersecurity measures across the board, such as adopting a platform approach to ensure all products in the security stack can be leveraged to their maximum ability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Stay in the know:<\/strong>&nbsp;By keeping up with new trends in generative AI technology, cybersecurity leaders can leverage emerging technology and improve security programs. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Upskill teams for greater resilience:<\/strong>&nbsp;Companies should ramp up the recruitment and upskilling of inhouse talent to close cybersecurity talent gaps, while still leveraging AI, automate tasks and external cybersecurity.  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Continuously re-evaluate readiness:<\/strong>&nbsp;Frequent re-evaluation allows businesses to stay one step ahead of threats and improve their cybersecurity infrastructure as threats become more advanced.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs cyber threats continue to evolve, cybersecurity practices need to evolve with them. The biggest risk to South African companies is not so much the threat itself, but rather remaining complacent in the face of rapidly advancing cybersecurity developments,&#8221; said Letsoalo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/technology\/768407\/south-africans-have-the-worst-screen-time-in-the-world\/\">South Africans have the worst screen time in the world<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new report from Cisco shows that over 90% of South African companies are not resilient against modern cybersecurity risks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":407539,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9882],"tags":[1358,26],"class_list":["post-769972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internet","tag-cisco","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769972","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\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769972"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":770202,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769972\/revisions\/770202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}