Tag: cyberattacks

Digitalisation is impacting nearly every single aspect of our lives. There is not only a rapid adoption of machine learning and artificial intelligence tools, but everyone is becoming more dependent on software, hardware and cloud infrastructure.

The past year has seen a surge in cyber attacks, but that doesn’t mean that the worst is over. Not only were global economies ravaged by COVID-19 during 2020, but untold damage was done by cyber hackers, who showed they have no ethics or morals and attacked as many institutions as possible, including hospitals and vaccine manufacturers.

Medium-sized companies in South Africa are in a precarious position in terms of cybersecurity. While they find themselves firmly in the crosshairs of cybercriminals, they also have limited options to successfully defend themselves against cyberattacks, as the challenges faced by this market segment are multifaceted.

After the likely spike in insurance claims arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, insurers are likely to introduce new or change  existing exclusionary clauses which were not previously considered to be necessary. The rapid spread and potential damage of the coronavirus presents an extraordinary situation for governments, businesses and individuals.

As the country goes into a three-week lock-down to combat the national COVID-19 outbreak, businesses and employees across South Africa are putting the necessary measures in place to operate remotely.

The demand for cybersecurity solutions is growing rapidly, businesses around the globe are investing heavily in security. Annual global cyber losses are expected to hit US$6 trillion by 2021, with cybersecurity spending projected to exceed a total of US$1 trillion for the five years leading up to 2021.

While the motivation behind major cyberattacks is often unclear, there are some steps that can be taken by a business, to improve security and aim to keep the hackers out. The reality globally is that cyber criminals are becoming relentless - and 2017 proved to be no exception. In 2016 we saw unprecedented attacks, politically motivated sabotage and overt attempts to disrupt electoral processes. Unfortunately, these trends continued in 2017 and show no signs of abating in the future. Innovation, economies of scale, new sophistication and trends that open up...

When Tim Berners-Lee declared data to be the “new raw material of the 21st century” back in 2011, he was perfectly describing the direction many economies were heading in - from industry to insights and intelligence. But in the six years since, data has defied the economic principles that many commodities adhere to: unlike other raw materials, the more plentiful the data the more valuable it becomes. It is coveted like precious metals and valued accordingly for its power to drive the insights that help transform businesses.