Cybersecurity South Africa
A North Korean Cyber Espionage Group Was Active in SA – New Report
Image sourced from Feed Navigator. Kaspersky researchers have disclosed details of its latest threat intelligence reports on South Africa, including the cybersecurity firm’s analysis of APT groups in the country – major threat actors hunting for sensitive information and finances. The company’s telemetry has demonstrated that throughout 2021 entities in South Africa faced attacks from North Korean group Lazarus and Chinese speaking group CloudComputating. Advanced persistent threats (APTs) are typically, according to Kaspersky, a nation-state or state-sponsored group of extremely stealthy high-level threat actors. In the vast majority of cases, they attack strategically important organisations with a goal of cyberespionage and, in rarer cases, financial gain, since the cost of their cybera...
The Most Vulnerable IoT Devices: Think Before You Buy This Black Friday
With the shopping season approaching, it’s likely that internet-connected gadgets and toys will be a popular item on many users’ wish lists, as more than 88% of people use IoT (Internet of Things) devices in their households. However, cybersecurity experts warn: Internet of Things devices can quickly go from fun to creepy, depending on how hackable they are. “Enormous Black Friday discounts can rush customers into buying some very questionable gadgets. However, Internet of Things devices is widely known among experts for low-security measures they usually have installed. There is a joke going around: ‘The S in IoT stands for security’. So, it’s best to think before bringing any new IoT device to your household, as it can easily compromise the whole network,” says digital security expert at...
NETSCOUT: The Long Tail of Adversary Innovation
Image sourced from Shutterstock. NETSCOUT’s ATLAS Security Engineering and Response Team (ASERT) observed a record-setting 5.4 million attacks in the first half of 2021, further confirmation that their “up and to the right” mantra would continue to hold true. As the findings from the 1H 2021 NETSCOUT Threat Intelligence Report show, the ongoing surge in DDoS activity is just one aspect of the dramatic global impact cyberattacks continue to have on private and public entities. “Cybercriminals are making front-page news launching an unprecedented number of DDoS attacks to take advantage of the pandemic’s remote work shift by undermining vital components of the connectivity supply chain,” stated Richard Hummel, threat intelligence lead, NETSCOUT. “Ransomware gangs added triple-extortion ...
Beware: These Are The Top 10 Brands Imitated in Phishing Attacks
Image sourced from Kaspersky. Check Point Research (CPR), the Threat Intelligence arm of Check Point Software Technologies, a leading provider of cyber security solutions globally, has published its new Brand Phishing Report for Q3 2021. The report highlights the brands which were most frequently imitated by criminals in their attempts to steal individuals’ personal information or payment credentials during July, August and September. In Q3, Microsoft continued its reign as the brand most frequently targeted by cybercriminals, albeit at a slightly lower rate. Twenty-nine per cent of all brand phishing attempts were related to the technology giant, down from 45% in Q2 2021, as threat actors continue to target vulnerable, distributed workforces during the COVID-19 pandemic. Amazon has replac...
Is South Africa a Playground for Cybercriminals?
The Attacks From All Angles 2021 Mid-year Cybersecurity Report by Trend Micro highlighted a 47% year-on-year increase in email threats as well as malicious files and URLs in the first quarter of 2021 globally. South Africa’s technology landscape is almost identical to that of other countries, which has seen black hat hackers using it as a testing ground for cybersecurity attacks before these are launched on their intended end-users. Ransomware Remains the Prime Threat Globally, ransomware remained the standout threat in the first half of the year. The pandemic has highlighted how easy it is to buy ransomware as a service (Raas) on the dark web. Africa accounted for 1.7% of these attacks, with 1.05% being targeted at South Africa. Our findings show that locally, South Africa was in the top ...
Most SAns Would Stop Trusting Brands Involved in Phishing Attacks – Survey
Image sourced from Kaspersky. According to the global Brand Trust survey by cybersecurity company Mimecast, almost three-quarters (74%) of South African consumers would stop buying from a brand if they fell victim to a phishing attack involving that brand, with 93% of South African consumers expecting their favourite brands to ensure their services, such as websites, emails and other communication, are safe to use. Heino Gevers, cybersecurity expert at Mimecast, says brands need to do more to protect their customers from cybercriminals. “South Africans are incredibly trusting with 69% of consumers not hesitating to open an email from brands they use regularly, and 56% readily clicking on links from their favourite brands. However, with cyber threats- including impersonation attacks and phi...
6 PoPIA Tips to Ensure Security and Compliance
The full implementation of the Protection of Personal Information Act (PoPIA) heralds a new era of control and privacy for South African citizens and organisations, and holds the promise of deepening trust between organisations and their customers – provided organisations remain fully compliant. According to Cameron Beveridge, Regional Director Southern Africa at SAP, trust is the key to success in the digital economy. “Privacy and trust are essential elements in building strong connections with customers and ensuring a positive customer experience (CX) in today’s business environment. In fact, some studies have found that up to 90% of customers believe how their data is treated is indicative of the way they will be treated as a customer, and 91% won’t purchase from a company if they don’t...
Malware Attacks in Africa Reach 85-Million in 6 Months – Kaspersky
Image sourced from Sectigo. According to research performed by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky, malware is rife across Africa with various countries exhibiting strong growth in all malware types in the first half of 2021 when compared to the same period last year. This is a 5% increase in the region, as cybercriminals and hackers continue to focus on African countries considering digital transformation advancements and the increase in remote working resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, 4 countries account for 85 million attacks, with South Africa being the most targeted (32-million attacks), followed by Kenya (28.3-million), Nigeria (16.7-million) and Ethiopia (8-million). All countries but Kenya saw the relative growth of all malware attacks. Ethiopia and Nigeria have seen an incre...
SA Data Breach Costs Reached Record Highs During Pandemic – IBM
IBM Security announced the results of a recent study that found that data breaches now cost South African companies $3-million (R46-million) on average – the highest cost in the 6-year history of the report. Worldwide, the average financial damages caused by a data breach increased by nearly 10% year over year to $4.24 million in 2021. Based on in-depth analysis of real-world data breaches experienced by organisations in South Africa, the study suggests that security incidents became more costly and harder to contain due to drastic operational shifts during the pandemic, with costs rising 15% for South African compared to the prior year. Businesses were forced to quickly adapt their technology approaches last year, with many companies encouraging or requiring employees to work from home, a...
Cybersecurity Should Be a Top Priority for Africa’s Digital Transformation
Sourced from Travellers Cloud adoption in South Africa and many other African countries is accelerating, helped along by the COVID-19 workplace disruption, and the need to reduce costs, manage risk and scale, and become more competitive. There are many drivers behind digital transformation strategies and many decisions that need to be made, such as which public cloud to consume. However, this should be less urgent than addressing security concerns. As we continue to work with organisations in different industries spread across our diverse continent, cybersecurity and cyber risk are increasingly important considerations for the C-suite. Against the backdrop of high-profile security breaches and ransomware, addressing security weaknesses are a key part of the success of digital transformatio...
Preventing Ransomware Attacks: Top 9 Things to Keep in Mind
Sourced from Kaspersky Ransomware attacks have become a massive problem for almost every industry and every organization size. Recently, South Africa’s port authority Transnet was struck by a massive ransomware attack that left the country’s ports crippled for nearly a week. What is a Ransomware Attack? Ransomware is a specific type of malware that holds data hostage in exchange for a ransom. As an attack methodology, it has the potential to cause severe damage. Phishing emails are a common delivery method, but ransomware can also be spread through drive-by downloading, which is when a user visits a website that’s infected. Advanced attacks take seconds to compromise endpoints, and ransomware attacks take seconds to damage your systems and infrastruc...
Transnet Undergoes Apparent Ransomware Hack
Image sourced from News24. South Africa’s logistics and port operator Transnet has been the victim of an apparent ransomware attack, with its IT systems, websites and Navis container terminal OS going offline yesterday morning. The hack was first identified when several stakeholders in the freight industry were not able to access the container terminals at the Durban port in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). “There was a memo issued to staff on Thursday morning that their terminal computers had been hacked and it came from the Transnet IT system. They said that they were working on it, but by Thursday afternoon the system was still offline,” said one stakeholder, quoted by The Sowetan. “Some operations, including rail, has gone manual but the end result is that no import containers are able to be proce...
