Security
How a Data Breach Can Impact a Business Even Years After
Image sourced from Forbes. Modern enterprises face an onslaught of cyberattacks from many quarters and must not only be prepared to contend with the direct costs of potential breaches but also with spiralling indirect costs, such as compliance fines and reputational damage. As the threat landscape continues to evolve, so do the frequency and sophistication of attacks, with companies facing anything from denial of service attacks and phishing attempts to payment card skimming, identity theft, and account takeover threats. At the same time, ransomware attacks have gained prominence over the last few years, forcing companies to continually test their data protection plans to understand the risks associated with having sensitive data released to the public. In its State of Ransomware 2021 repo...
5 Reasons to Attend the Public Sector Cybersecurity Summit 2022
The Public Sector Cybersecurity Summit hosted by IT News Africa on the 2nd and 3rd of August 2022. Sign up here: https://itnewsafrica.com/event/event/public-sector-cybersecurity-summit-2022/ Public Sector Cybersecurity Summit 2022 – Managing Risk and Continuity in the Public Sector. Public sector organisations are currently at more of a risk than ever before to be the target of a cyber-attack, be it aimed ransomware or social engineering like phishing – these attacks cost countries millions, if not billions, of dollars every day. Cybercriminals are only becoming more advanced, and more dangerous. In Africa, the situation is dire with top international cybersecurity education firm KnowBe4 reporting that the continent faces a growing array of cyber threats from espionage, critical infrastruc...
Cassava Wins $50-Million Investment for Africa’s Cybersecurity
The Cassava and C5 Team. African integrated tech firm, Cassava Technologies, today announced that it has secured a $50-million investment from C5 Capital (C5), a specialist venture capital firm that invests in cyber security, space, and energy security. The investment is part of a broader funding round to accelerate Cassava’s growth. The investment by C5 will contribute to the acceleration of the work that Cassava has undertaken to increase digital connectivity and inclusion on the continent. As part of the investment plan, Cassava will be the go-to-market partner in Africa for C5’s cutting-edge portfolio companies to deliver best-in-class cyber security, satellite and space technology and clean energy. C5 and Cassava already announced a joint venture through which Haven Cyber, a C5 portfo...
Public Sector Cybersecurity Summit: The Real Cost of Not Knowing
The Public Sector Cybersecurity Summit hosted by IT News Africa on the 2nd and 3rd of August 2022. Sign up here: https://itnewsafrica.com/event/event/public-sector-cybersecurity-summit-2022/ Investing time and money into cybersecurity practices has changed from being ‘a nice-to-have’ to a definite must-have in the daily operations of any modern enterprise, but when it comes to public sector organisations, understanding and investing in proper cybersecurity practices has become even more imperative. This is because the public sector continues to be a highly lucrative target for cybercriminals due to the large amount of money that flows through some of these organisations, their operational importance for many countries and, usually, the relatively low protection they use. The Nightmare at T...
1 in 3 Untrained Employees Will Click on a Phishing Link – New Report
Image sourced from Kaspersky. KnowBe4, one of the world’s largest cyber-security awareness training companies and simulated phishing platform provider, has released the new 2022 Phishing by Industry Benchmarking Report to measure an organisation’s Phish-prone Percentage (PPP), which indicates how many of their employees are likely to fall for phishing or a social engineering scam. With ransomware payments averaging $580,000 in 2021 and business email compromise (BEC) losses topping $1.8 billion in 2020, a cyber attack can wreak havoc on an organisation. Yet, according to the baseline testing conducted for the report, without security training, across all industries globally, 32.4% of employees are likely to click on a suspicious link or comply with a fraudulent request. In some large categ...
Is Hacking Humans Easier Than Machines?
Anna Collard, SVP Content Strategy & Evangelist at KnowBe4 Africa. When it comes to cybersecurity, technology is not enough. Yes, it is the foundation. But it is not enough to mitigate the growing threat of cybercrime. The reality is that, even with best-in-class security systems, firewalls, endpoint protections and zero-trust frameworks, without a robust and agile culture of security, the business is at risk. The Dark Reading 2021 Strategic Security Survey found that around 48% of security professionals believe that users breaking policy are likely to be the single biggest cause of a major breach in the future. This sentiment is echoed in a ITWeb and KnowBe4 study that examined cybersecurity culture and the impact of this on the South African organisation. “Having a robust cyber...
Implementing Security Best Practices to Maintain Integrity at the Edge
Industry 4.0, IIoT, and smart manufacturing are all buzzwords that we’ve been talking about for years. Many of us have had visions of factory floors run by futuristic robots and drones reminiscent of SciFi movies like iRobot. Well, it seems that life is indeed starting to imitate art; a 2021 McKinsey & Company survey concluded that many global manufacturing companies were able to keep their operations running during the pandemic, thanks to Industry 4.0. Furthermore, more than half of the respondents indicated that technology played a fundamental role in staying operational. Moreover, according to recent studies, the COVID-19 pandemic has vaulted us five years forward in digital business adoption. More and more manufacturers are considering actively adopting “lights out” factories and s...
3 Ways to Optimise Cloud Security Beyond What is in Place
Modernising business infrastructure by migrating to the cloud has become one of the most significant organisational priorities today. Unfortunately, as companies across industry sectors make the shift from on-premises to this dynamic new environment, so too has there been a tremendous increase in cyber threats and attacks. Contrary to the widely held belief, cloud computing is not the panacea for security many make it out to be. The most effective cyber attackers target the weakest points in any company’s digital defences. In fact, there has been a 50% surge in more sophisticated cyberattacks over the past year. This can at least partly be attributed to the rate at which new cloud deployments are taking place which makes it difficult for business and technology leaders to keep up and ensur...
LinkedIn: Are There Cyber-Risks Lurking Beneath the Surface?
In February 2021, the data from 500 million LinkedIn users was leaked by hackers, in June 2021, more than 700 million LinkedIn users had their data leaked and put up for sale. In June 2022, the FBI said that the fraud on LinkedIn posed a significant threat to the platform and its users. The site has become one of the riskiest social media platforms to date, according to South Africa-based cybersecurity firm Nclose. It allows for users to reveal deeply personal and relevant business information without authorisation; it allows for fraudsters to impersonate employees, and gain trust and access to information which can potentially put a company’s reputation on the line if an employee posts libellous or unpleasant content. “By now, most people recognise that social media isn’t the place to put...
Sophos Webinar: Navigating the Cybersecurity Triple Threat
As we move into 2022, ransomware shows no signs of slowing down – that’s no surprise. What we have seen in the past 18 months, however, is a shift in tactics: targets have shifted to ever-larger organizations, and the business model that dictates how ransomware attacks occur has evolved. It’s up to IT professionals to proactively deal with these trends to meet the challenges already on the horizon and beyond. Sophos and IT News Africa have collaborated to host a free webinar on 29 June 2022 to discuss the varied methods cyber attackers use to penetrate the networks of an entire organization. The webinar will review how Sophos’ EDR and MTR can help organizations detect these invasions before they escalate and, ultimately, eliminate the threat. It will also look at threat response, and why i...
How a Career in Cybersecurity Can Secure Your Future
Nash Lewis. According to a salary and hiring report by the professional recruitment group, Michael Page, cybersecurity is one of the top in-demand technology jobs in South Africa. Cybersecurity is an issue of critical importance and companies are prioritising hiring talent with the expertise of putting safeguarding measures in place. In response to this, the Banking Sector Education and Training Authority has developed new occupational qualifications to address the growing need for formal qualifications related to cybersecurity in South Africa. Interest in cybersecurity understandably follows increased demand for advanced technology by customers, especially within the fintech sector. With more customers conducting online transactions, the risk for potential cyber-attacks has rapidly increa...
