Cybercrimes are becoming more frequent and more damaging on a global scale. According to the Cyber Exposure Index, South Africa is the sixth most targeted country internationally for cybercrime.CEOs and corporate leaders at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, ranked cyber attacks as the second most concerning risk of doing business globally in the next 10 years.
Kilpatrick, who works with businesses and individuals to advance their knowledge in the domain of cyber intelligence and security, said a company’s cyber security rating is likely to become as important as its credit rating for doing business internationally in the future. There is a need for an estimated 3 million additional cyber security professionals globally, which is anticipated to increase to 3.5 million by next year. At least 70% of companies report a cyber security skills shortage, Kilpatrick said, with security-related skills and data protection the most in-demand IT capabilities in South Africa at present.While previously, cyber security was considered IT’s responsibility, it is now becoming a much broader company-wide issue.
Email is a particular vulnerability, and phishing emails are still the most successful delivery mechanism for malware. Denner estimated that the Gautrain breach had cost the company in excess of R11 million to date due to lost productivity, forensic investigation fees, security upgrades and ongoing legal fees.