Strengthening Cyber Resilience in the Wake of the Pandemic in South Africa
-
April 17, 2021
Downloads
Download Article
-
Cybersecurity remains a significant concern for businesses in South Africa. Early on in the pandemic, cybersecurity experts reported dramatic increases in attacks on businesses in the region, with hundreds of thousands of devices and accounts being exploited each week. Unfortunately, though cyber risks have continued to increase, the pressures of the last year have prevented most businesses from taking the proactive steps needed to mitigate their risk.
Recent data from FTI Consulting’s 2021 Resilience Barometer—which draws on insights from business professionals in South Africa and globally regarding the major commercial, technological, reputational and legal challenges of the last year—confirmed that this increase in risk has not been adequately addressed by most corporations in South Africa.
As our teams anticipated, and discussed in previous articles, the remote work operating model has perpetuated exponential growth in the frequency and intensity of cyber attacks and third-party risk. Highly motivated cyber criminals continue to leverage public anxiety and sprawling, vulnerable networks to launch email phishing scams and other network exploits.
“As a result, roughly three in five large South African businesses have experienced external and internal cyber threats over the last year. Respondents attributed this uptick in cyber exposure directly to factors resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
This is particularly concerning considering many that experienced a cyber attack in the last year reported losing revenue, assets or customer information as a result of those incidents.
Published
April 17, 2021
Key Contacts