{"id":803832,"date":"2024-12-19T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=803832"},"modified":"2024-12-18T10:26:47","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T08:26:47","slug":"its-only-going-to-get-worse-for-this-type-of-crime-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/technology\/803832\/its-only-going-to-get-worse-for-this-type-of-crime-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s only going to get worse for this type of crime in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The rise of cybercrime in South Africa poses an ever-increasing threat to the country’s economy and critical information infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a response to a question posed to her by MK MP Glen Taaibosch about the rise in cybercrime across the nation, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said that “it is indeed accurate that South Africa, like many countries globally, is seeing an increasing occurrence of cybercrime incidents and cyber-attacks.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, Cybersecurity Ventures\u00a0expects cybercrime to cost the world\u00a0$10.5 trillion annually<\/a>\u00a0by 2025, exponentially bigger than the size of the global industry fighting to keep said damages at bay (in 2023, the international cybersecurity market was worth\u00a0approximately $172 billion).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Insurance company Allianz\u00a0Commercial\u00a0recently warned that cyber claims as a result of attacks have continued to rise over the past year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company said that the frequency of large cyber claims (~R20 million) in the first six months of 2024 was up 14%, while severity increased by 17% following just a 1% increase in severity during 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It ranks South Africa as 14th globally in the highest average cost of a data breach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sophos’ State of Ransomware in South Africa report for 2024 also painted a bleak picture, showing that the mean ransom payment made by firms was $958,110 (R17.9 million) compared to the average recovery cost of $1.04 million (R19.44 million).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ntshavheni said that these attacks “affect all sectors of our economy, such as telecommunications, financial, transportation, energy, education, health and so on, all of which are considered to be critical sectors in our economy.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Minister added that ransomware attacks in both the private and public sectors have been the most prevalent threat over the past year. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Some of the most widely reported incidents in the public sector include the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) and the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking at the NHLS, in June of 2024 its IT systems, including email and patient result systems, were compromised, leading to a temporary shutdown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attack was suspected to be ransomware, causing damage and potentially data exfiltration, with incident highlights vulnerabilities within South Africa’s critical healthcare infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Critical South African healthcare services hacked<\/a><\/blockquote>