Kabelo Letsoalo | Specialist | Cybersecurity | Cisco | mail me |
The 2024 Cybersecurity Readiness Index reveals a decline in South African businesses’ preparedness for cyberattacks.
According to the released index, just 5% of companies in South Africa have ranked at the “mature” level of readiness which is needed to be resilient against modern cybersecurity risks, down by 19% year-on-year.
The index assesses a company’s readiness across five key pillars:
- Identity intelligence
- Network resilience
- machine trustworthiness
- Cloud reinforcement
- AI Fortification
These areas are comprised of 31 corresponding solutions and capabilities. It is based on a double-blind survey of over 8,000 private sector security and business leaders across 30 global markets conducted by an independent third party. The respondents were asked to indicate which of these solutions and capabilities they had deployed and the deployment stage. Companies were then classified into four stages of increasing readiness: beginner, formative, progressive, and mature.
Preparing for potential breaches
Today’s cybersecurity threats demand companies be prepared for potential breaches. The index assesses preparedness, empowering them to adapt their cybersecurity infrastructure.
Organisations 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. The second edition of the annual index was developed to measure companies’ level of preparedness against cyber attacks in an era of hyper-connectivity and a rapidly evolving threat landscape, as a variety of techniques ranging from phishing and ransomware to supply chain and social engineering attacks continue to threaten businesses. It is for this reason that building adequate is essential.
Overall, the study considers key measurements such as anticipation of cybersecurity, effectiveness of multipoint solutions, device management issues, skills shortages and others. All of these elements have a key impact on how responsive companies can be in the face of cyber attacks.
Notably, in the South African edition of the survey, nearly 73% of companies indicated that they anticipate a cybersecurity incident could disrupt their business in the next 12 to 24 months.
Defending against cyberattacks
The challenges are compounded in distributed working environments where data is spread across limitless services, devices, applications, and users. Adding to this, only 31% companies feel very confident in their ability to defend against a cyberattack with their current infrastructure. We can’t underestimate the threat posed by overconfidence.
There are key steps business should take to protect themselves from cybersecurity threats in the South African context:
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Identify and assess vulnerabilities
By conducting a comprehensive audit of their current cybersecurity infrastructure, businesses can take steps to assess and close vulnerability gaps within their existing infrastructure and networks.
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Investing in adequate cybersecurity infrastructure
Continue to accelerate investment in protective cybersecurity measures across the board, including adopting a platform approach to ensure all solutions in the security stack can be leveraged to their maximum ability.
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Stay in the know
By staying in the know of the latest developments in generative AI technology, cybersecurity leaders can leverage emerging technology and enhance security programs and operational resilience.
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Upskill teams for greater resilience
Ramp up the recruitment and upskilling of inhouse talent to close cybersecurity talent gaps. Where possible, leverage the advancements in AI to augment and automate tasks while leaning on external cybersecurity expertise to help close key gaps in building and operating cybersecurity infrastructure.
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Continuously re-evaluate readiness
In terms of cybersecurity readiness, companies should continuously re-evaluate preparedness based, and establish a baseline level of readiness. Frequent re-evaluation allows companies to stay ahead of threats and evolve their cybersecurity infrastructure as threats become more advanced.
In conclusion
To counter the challenges in today’s threat landscape, companies should assess their level of readiness and increase investment in security by adopting innovative solutions accordingly.
As 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.
