Embrace technological innovation by prioritizing cybersecurity in a post-pandemic digital age

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The rapid development of digital technology since the turn of the century has dramatically changed the way businesses and society operate and interact. In many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic has not only brought about sharp systemic changes in consumer and business behaviors, but it has also been a boon to the adoption of digital transformation around the world, causing the rate of adoption of online services and mobile technologies.

Even before facing the challenges posed by the global pandemic, digital information executives were faced with an equally dynamic environment as they sought to protect increasingly valuable digital assets, without degrading their ability to innovate and extract value from technology investments.

As businesses seek to create rich digital experiences for customers, the digital operating landscape has also left many susceptible to opportunistic fraud, as well as an increased risk and impact of cyberattacks from criminals using increasingly sophisticated methods to exploit the online environment.

As with their global counterparts, South Africans have not been exempt from this global criminal phenomenon: the country’s lack of investment in cybersecurity, law enforcement training, and public awareness of cyberthreats has made the region a haven for cyber criminals.

The country now has the third-highest number of cybercrime victims worldwide, losing an estimated R2.2 billion ($147 million) annually to cyberattacks.

iDefense analysts found that between 2010 and 2014, cybercriminals on the dark web rarely mentioned South Africa; but since 2016 there has been much greater attention to the country. This correlates with the rise of notable cyberattacks on state institutions and large technology firms in the country. While sophisticated malware, ransomware and hacking have been used in these attacks, South African SMEs are more vulnerable to the most common cybercrimes, including phishing scams, key logging, email fraud, botnets, digital extortion and invoice fraud.

SMBs are particularly targeted because they often (due to the small scale nature of their organisation) do not have access to the necessary digital security systems or third party services to store their backup data and therefore cannot effectively protect the information sensitive information such as bank account details and personally identifiable information (PII).

Given the rapidly evolving and transnational nature of cybercrime, it is clear that the first line of defense lies with organizations strengthening their IT standards and best practices and, likewise, with employees taking extra precautions with their devices. and personal information.

HP Wolf Security highlights three important methods an organization can implement to be more cyber resilient. The first boils down to the basics.

Organizations should invest in multi-factor authentication and other security controls such as isolation technologies that don’t impede employee workflows. This will allow you to better control the types of software your employees download to their devices and de-risk entire carriers.

Proactive planning is another crucial process that involves both the organization and its employees. Routine attack testing helps companies identify problems in security systems, anticipate what tactics attackers might use, and improve the overall security apparatus more efficiently. When set up effectively, this not only prevents attacks, but strengthens recovery times should they occur.

All tactics are not a one-sided affair and organizations cannot do it alone. Employees also have a role to play as continuing education becomes a prerequisite for understanding the types of cyber threats, social engineering and preventative measures. This can be as simple as not using public or unknown devices or Wi-Fi connections to access shared corporate files; ensure that passwords are complex by including a combination of letters, numbers and characters; and never give out PINs, passwords or sensitive information to anyone by phone, email or SMS. Frequent awareness campaigns like these reinforce threat resilient behaviors and practices, ensuring that employees are empowered to manage human risk elements themselves.

As digital technologies evolve in the future, it is likely that cybercriminals will become increasingly dependent on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to generate targeted attacks aimed at key individuals in an organization. It is only by instituting fundamental cybersecurity models and practices now that we can hope to build on them and ensure resilience against more sophisticated attacks in the future.

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