Tag: dataprotection

Regulatory compliance in cybersecurity is no longer an administrative chore that organisations can treat as an afterthought. As digital ecosystems expand, threat actors are leveraging automation, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven reconnaissance and supply-chain attack vectors. Consequently, governments are moving from advisory guidelines to enforceable directives.

Boards spend a great deal of time asking questions. They challenge strategy, review financial performance, interrogate financial statements and revisit decisions that made sense six months ago but may no longer make sense today. That is why one question stands out: "Why are executives and boards not doing the same when it comes to their cybersecurity?" My view is simple. As organisations become more digital, it becomes increasingly difficult to justify treating cyber resilience as something that sits outside regular business discussions.

The local business news cycle has taken a dark and repetitive turn. Week after week, headlines are dominated by a relentless spike in organisations falling victim to sophisticated hacks, data breaches, and crippling ransomware attacks. From local municipalities to major political parties like the ANC, no sector seems immune.

Cyber risk is no longer a peripheral IT issue in African supply chains. Instead, it is becoming a core operational threat. According to the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), 70% of organisations report experiencing fraud or economic crime. Cyber-enabled fraud ranks among the fastest-growing categories globally, according to the ACCA Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey.

Microsoft 365 is embedded in a significant number of South African organisations, but adoption doesn’t mean value. The difference between the two is showing up as cost and risk. There’s a reason companies invest in technology. It should deliver measurable gains across key areas such as productivity, cost and time savings, and operational optimisation.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly moving from experimentation to execution within South African organisations. Organisations increasingly embed AI agents across business functions, including finance, customer service, IT and operations. However, a significant governance concern is emerging.

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) discussions in South African boards generally default to carbon, community impact and governance process. While those remain essential, they do not tell the full story of organisational sustainability. A business may define sustainability narrowly. However, it still fails if it cannot protect data and recover quickly from cyber disruption in a digital economy.

We have released a new report outlining ransomware trends that shaped 2025. The report also provides insights into how the ransomware threat landscape may evolve. According to our Security Network, Latin America recorded the highest share of organisations affected by ransomware attacks at 8.13%. The Asia-Pacific region followed at 7.89%, while Africa stood at 7.62%. In addition, the Middle East recorded 7.27%, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) reached 5.91%, and Europe reported 3.82%.

At the start of 2024, a finance worker in Hong Kong at a multinational firm joined what appeared to be a routine video call with senior leadership. The call included people who looked and sounded like the company’s UK-based CFO and other executives. However, AI-generated deepfakes had created these individuals. As a result, the employee authorised several transfers to different bank accounts worth around $25 million.

For decades, businesses assumed that information in the public domain was harmless. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has ended that assumption. By aggregating thousands of public data points, AI can reconstruct strategy, pricing and expansion plans. Under the King V Report on Corporate Governance for South Africa, protecting confidential value in this environment has become a board-level governance responsibility.