Tag: cyber resilience

Regulation is meant to protect customers, curb risk and keep businesses accountable. However, too often, today’s laws do the opposite. They create impossible trade-offs, criminalise good-faith defenders and punish organisations that try to do the right thing.

In an era where borders are no longer physical, South Africa is drawn into a new kind of conflict. This conflict is not fought with tanks and missiles. Instead, it is waged with lines of code and silent intrusions. From local municipalities to national ministries, government systems face relentless attack. The digital battlefield is here. Cyberspace has become the next frontier of conflict.

The terms 'Cybersecurity' and 'Cyber Resilience' often appear interchangeable, which creates confusion. These concepts are related but serve distinct purposes. Both play critical roles in protecting data and ensuring business continuity. However, what are their differences, and why do organisations need both?

The consequences of a data breach can be catastrophic for businesses and their customers. Data holds immense value as a critical business asset. Enterprises must harness data effectively to stay competitive. They need to rapidly detect, protect, and respond to threats and attacks. Improving data visibility and governance has never been more important.

As cyber attacks grow in frequency and complexity, it is urgent to shift from prevention alone to detection and response. Many businesses still rely on outdated, reactive approaches, even though Managed Detection and Response (MDR) is not a new concept. Without proactive cyber threat management these reactive methods leave organisations vulnerable to sophisticated attacks.

Business leaders get it wrong when they assume that cyber resilience is only about digital tactics and tools. Cyber resilience strategies are destined to fail if they do not take the human element into consideration. To have a robust cyber resilience strategy, organisations must embed cyber resilience into the culture and every aspect of operations.

2022 was a rollercoaster - I don’t think any of us could have predicted what was to come. The constant through it all was the importance of technology to overcome our near-term obstacles and to realise our long-term opportunities.

The average tenure of a Chief Security Information Officer lasts between one and two years, far less than the six years a Chief Financial Officer or eight years a Chief Executive Officer typically spends at a company. This drastic difference is even more staggering when we add new data from the Ponemon Institute, which claims that around 65 percent of security professionals think about quitting due to burnout.

With citizens, governments, and businesses more dependent than ever on digital connectivity, one of the most pressing sectoral issues for this decade is cybersecurity. While this issue has been in the public consciousness for some time now, there is still a wide perception gap between organisational executives, who feel positively about their cyber resilience, and security leaders who do not.

We have launched the Africa Cyber Security Outlook 2022 survey which unpacks the state of cybersecurity across the continent - highlighting that the cyber landscape in Africa is highly dynamic and rapidly evolving - propelled by widespread digitisation and matched by adequate investments in protecting assets and data from cyber threats.