Tag: sensitive data

In today’s digital age, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) rely heavily on their IT infrastructure. It is essential for maintaining smooth operations and staying competitive. However, managing IT systems can be complex and time-consuming. This is especially true for SMEs that operate with limited resources.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms have fast-tracked automation in South Africa’s insurance industry. However, these solutions also introduce unique cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Specifically, adversarial attacks can compromise the accuracy of risk assessments, bypass fraud detection and disrupt claims processing. Without proper digital security in place, this can lead to compliance violations and severely damage the reputation of local insurers.

Consumers are familiar with phishing emails, fraudulent SMS messages and social media scams. However, the scale and complexity of cyberattacks on critical sectors far exceed these relatively simple threats. Entire industries and governmental bodies face increasingly sophisticated attacks. These attacks can cripple essential services, cause significant economic damage and compromise sensitive data on a massive scale.

Businesses face an ever-increasing array of security challenges today and as they adopt new technologies to stay competitive, the need for robust security measures has never been more critical. The ever-expanding range of technologies competing to keep business information safe can be overwhelming for organisations striving to stay ahead.

The Financial Sector Regulation (FSCA) and the Prudential Authority (PA) published Joint Standard 2 of 2024 on Cybersecurity and Cyber Resilience Requirements on 17 May 2024. The Joint Standard 2 of 2024 (Joint Standard) applies to all financial institutions as defined in the Joint Standard. It sets out the requirements for sound practices and processes relating to cybersecurity and cyber resilience for financial institutions.

Outsourcing is more than just catching an expert by the digital tail and swinging them into the enterprise, it’s a strategic investment into a long-term collaboration. Outsourcing essential business operations across multiple departments and functions has proven its strategic value as service providers refine their offerings and enterprises adapt their use cases and perceptions.

Data is immensely valuable to all organisations, a significant resource for the digital economy and the ‘cornerstone of our EU industrial competitiveness,’ says the European Commission. But its value is determined by how it can be protected and used by those who own it.

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.

The statistics make for worrying reading. According to our Data Protection Trends Report 2022, 97% of South African companies experienced an outage due to a cyberattack in the past 12 months. Of those, almost nine in 10 (86%) suffered a ransomware attack.

While phishing scams are nothing new and have not changed drastically since their inception several years ago, we have seen some changes in terms of the techniques used, as well as the sophistication of content. From a tech perspective, the general technology used to pull off these social engineering attacks remains the same.