Tag: ransomware

Our 2025 cybersecurity predictions, developed by a team of global industry experts, highlight critical trends shaping the cyber threat landscape. In 2024, cyber threats escalated at an unprecedented pace, driven largely by the rapid adoption and evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools.

Criminals are launching targeted online attacks against high-value individuals. What can they do to stay safe? Most cyberattacks are opportunistic. Much like a mugging on a dark street, it doesn't matter who the victim is as long as the perpetrators gain something out of their crimes. However, a growing number of these attacks are designed to target specific people, such as CEOs, Directors, Board Members, CFOs, IT administrators, and wealthy individuals.

In recent years, there have been a significant surge in cyber threats targeting industrial control systems (ICS) and associated control networks. Industry reports reveal...

A recent research study by global data management providers Veaam among 1,200 IT leaders concluded that it was not a question of whether organisations would be targeted by cyberattacks, but how often. Most of the attacks were designed to extract ransomware from the companies, and most companies paid up, thanks to insurance covering just this eventuality.

While South Africa has fended off the threat of recession after recording a slight growth in the first quarter of 2023, the global tech industry is still being cautious as it prepares to weather a storm. Tech companies are looking at optimising their costs across the board, with one such area topping the list of CIOs’ being controlling cloud expenditure.

More than half of South African businesses were impacted by ransomware in 2022, according to a CSIR report on cybersecurity. If businesses don't implement adequate cybersecurity strategies, this percentage will increase as the country's reliance on digital technologies and the number of associated threats expand.

The fact that ransomware and cyberattacks have become increasingly prevalent is common knowledge, and this has raised greater awareness of the need for effective data protection. However, ransomware and other data breaches are not the only concern for businesses. Protecting data is essential, but managing it is equally important.

Utility providers are traditionally an attractive target for cybercriminals, evident by the number of high-profile attacks, both globally and locally, in recent years. In fact, the ransomware supply chain attack on the Colonial Pipeline in 2021 became the largest attack in US history, with the payment of a $4.4 million ransom.

As organisations across the globe contend with an increasing number of cyberattacks, schools and higher learning institutions are looking for innovative and cost-effective ways to protect their students, staff, and data from breaches and ransomware.

Given the rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape, there is a growing sense that South African companies will rethink their cloud approaches to better prepare for rapid recovery in the event of potential ransomware and other cyberattacks in 2023.