cyber attacks Archives - AfricaBusiness.com

Understanding generative AI and its impact on payment fraud in South Africa

21Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Fintech, South Africa News

Understanding generative AI and its impact on payment fraud in South Africa

The accessibility of generative AI tools has lowered the barriers for would-be criminals, while the transition to hybrid work models and geographically dispersed teams has expanded the attack surfaces they can exploit. In this context, the overlap of AI technology and the interests of financial leaders becomes increasingly significant, says Ryan Mer, CEO of eftsure Africa, a Know Your Payee (KYP) platform provider. Numerous financially motivated cybercrimes hinge on the manipulation of accounts payable (AP) staff and the evasion of traditional financial safeguards. As generative AI technologies advance, the art of deception within these crimes is poised to become more sophisticated than ever before. Businesses could soon face a host of new challenges as generative AI models can be used to ...

24Apr

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Convergence of cyber and physical security presents new challenges: New approaches needed to tackle cyber and physical security holistically

By Richard Frost, Head of Product: Cybersecurity at Armata With South Africa being the sixth most targeted country worldwide regarding cyber attacks, it’s no surprise that organisations have to put numerous steps in place to protect their networks and data. This is all the more crucial in a world where we have legislation such as GDPR and PoPI that dictate how people’s data can be stored, used and transmitted, with harsh financial penalties for those found in contravention. More companies are investing in network and data security solutions and being proactive in preventing breaches by carrying out active threat hunting, while there’s also a growing effort to separate Information Technology from Operational Technology as an additional security measure. With more investment into network ...

21Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

How South African businesses can start the financial year digitally secure

With phishing, ransomware and other cyberattacks on the rise in South Africa, appropriately budgeting for cybersecurity is a must, as the benefits of having strong measures in place far outweigh the assumed expense of digital security, says Steve Flynn, Sales and Marketing Director at ESET Southern Africa. With a shortage of experienced cybersecurity personnel in South Africa and across the globe, cybercriminals have an advantage with access to significant skills and resources – and determination and persistence to match. Businesses often spend as little as possible on cybersecurity. SMEs often mistakenly believe that they don’t require paid cybersecurity as their business isn’t an attractive target for cybercrime. However, if the average consumer or end-user is vulnerable to cyberattacks...

Governing cybersecurity from the top as a strategic business enabler

30Jan

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Tech

Governing cybersecurity from the top as a strategic business enabler

Cyber threats are increasing at a rate far greater than the industry is able to cope with. Despite this, C-Suite executives still don’t take cybersecurity seriously enough while boards are not nearly as engaged in cybersecurity as they are in other areas of oversight, says Patrick Evans, CEO of SLVA CyberSecurity. Cybersecurity breaches pose a major business risk and can no longer be viewed as a technology concern. Business leaders agree on this point according to Gartner’s 2022 Board of Directors Survey which found 88% of respondents viewed cybersecurity as a business risk. However, only 13% of boards have responded by instituting cybersecurity-specific board committees overseen by a dedicated director. In some instances, it may be the case that directors are not always completely awar...

21Mar

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News, Tech

TransUnion South Africa battling to retrieve personal records after hack

On 17 March, ITWeb reported that credit bureau, TransUnion South Africa, is currently in an ongoing battle with a hacker group that is demanding a $15 million (R223 million) ransom over four terabytes of compromised data. The hacker group, going by the name N4aughtysecTU, which claims to hail from Brazil, is alleging it breached TransUnion South Africa and accessed 54 million personal records of South Africans. Speaking to ITWeb via Telegam, the hacker group claims the information it is in possession of includes anything from credit scores, banking details and ID numbers. TransUnion South Africa has issued a statement confirming that a criminal third-party obtained access to an isolated South African server, through misuse of an authorised client’s credentials. “This alarming news is fu...

12Aug

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, South Africa News

Transnet is a harsh reminder that anyone is a victim in the current environment

The recent cyber-attack on Transnet is a serious wakeup call and a reminder that, in the technology age, no company is safe from cyber criminals who are trying to disrupt operations or steal personal information. While Transnet was dealing with its cyberattack, Macsteel - one of South Africa’s largest steel suppliers - faced a similar cyberattack on its system. At the end of June, there was a major data leak that impacted one of South Africa’s major insurers. "These coordinated attacks by cyber criminals are indicative of the environment that we live in at the moment," says Manie van Schalkwyk, CEO of the Southern African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS). He adds that these criminals are motivated, well-funded, and do not care who they go after. Risk based environment The cyber attack ...

Beating Cybercriminals at Their Own Game with AI Technology

25Jul

By Derek MankyNo Comments

Tech

Beating Cybercriminals at Their Own Game with AI Technology

By Derek Manky, Chief of Security Insights and Global Threat Alliances at FortiGuard Labs. Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is a powerful technology, and because of this, it holds great potential for exploitation by cybercriminals. Considering this, the only way that security leaders can stay ahead of bad actors is by gaining a true understanding of how this technology can be weaponized. Then, they can begin to develop effective strategies for confronting AI threats head-on. Malicious Uses of AI Technology As AI grows in adoption and sophistication, cybercriminals are looking for ways to seize upon its potential. The Electronic Frontier Foundation was already warning about potential malicious uses of AI back in 2018, including threats to digital, physical, and political securit...

11Jun

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Tech

Cisco Study Reveals Top Cybersecurity Considerations for SMEs in 2021

Three Factors Highlighted as Crucial to Achieving Desired Security Outcomes: Enabling Business, Managing Risk and Operating Efficiently Cisco has published its 2021 SMB Security Outcomes Study, a derivative of Cisco’s flagship cybersecurity report, 2021 Security Outcomes Study, highlighting what SMB leaders are doing to thrive in today's ever-evolving threat landscape, as well as offering actionable insights on where they should focus their digitization, security planning and cyber defense efforts in the year ahead. The double-blind study is based on a survey of over 850 regional IT and security professionals from small (50 to 249 employees) and midsize (250 to 499 employees) organizations in 25 countries from the Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia (EMEAR). The report examines how sec...

27Apr

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Tech

ThreatQuotient Sponsors ASRG to Enable Cyber Threat Intelligence Sharing Across the Automotive Industry

ThreatQ platform will support turning threat data into threat intelligence to be shared and applied to security solutions for automotive products ThreatQuotient™, a leading security operations platform innovator, announced that the ThreatQ™ threat intelligence platform will be utilized by the Automotive Security Research Group (ASRG) to facilitate cyber threat intelligence sharing across the automotive industry. ASRG, a non-profit with over 6,000 members in 19 countries, supports the development of security solutions for automotive products. As a key sponsor of ASRG, ThreatQuotient is providing a critical tool for automotive companies to strengthen their security practices. “ASRG’s goal is to reduce hesitation on the part of automotive stakeholders to share vulnerabilities or cyber issues...

13Apr

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, Fintech

Staying ahead of cybercrime is a business imperative

It is predicted that there will be 7,5 billion Internet users by 2030 and that more than 111 billion lines of new software code is produced each year. While the growth is exciting, these statistics also outline the number of vulnerabilities open to exploitation. Together with an estimated 96 zettabytes of digital content currently produced, this sheer volume will lead to increased cyber-attacks and security events, all of which will be virtually impossible for humans to contain. Ryan Mer, Managing Director, eftsure Africa, a Know Your Payee™ (KYP) platform provider, says that cyber security is almost always a people problem first: “While the amount of business transactions taking place online is constantly growing and working from home is now commonplace, business controls have not kep...