Tag Archive for: africa

South Africa now has the third-highest number of cyberc…

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Online crooks are increasingly targeting South Africa, which now has the third-highest number of cybercrime victims in the world. This costs about R2.2-billion annually.

In the first quarter of this year, South Africa was also the worst affected on the continent in terms of targeted ransomware attacks, which can affect critical infrastructure.

This is according to Interpol’s African Cyberthreat Assessment Report released in October.

It comes as the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development recovers from a debilitating ransomware attack that unfolded in September, affecting all its electronic systems.

Transnet and its division that operates SA’s biggest ports was also the target of a cyberattack earlier this year that affected crucial systems.

And the National School of Government appears to have paid cybercrooks a R2-million ransom, previously, while the private hospital group Life Healthcare was targeted last year in an attack that affected admissions systems and email servers.

These incidents paint a worrying picture of how vulnerable South Africa is to cybercriminals and even cyberwarfare.

A possible example of cyberwarfare, showing how far-reaching and detrimental it can be to residents, is the attempted poisoning of a water plant in Florida in the US earlier this year. It was reported a hacker increased sodium hydroxide levels in the water supply that reached a town of 15,000 people.

The attack was thwarted.

This week malicious cyberactivities also made global headlines – and this had suspected links to South Africa.

The US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security added four companies – two Israeli, one Russian and one in Singapore – to its Entity List; in other words, to its trade restriction list.

“NSO Group and Candiru (Israel) were added to the Entity List based on evidence that these entities developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments that used these tools to maliciously target government officials, journalists, businesspeople, activists, academics and embassy workers,” a statement said.

“Positive Technologies (Russia) and Computer Security Initiative Consultancy Pte Ltd (Singapore) were added to the Entity List…

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Interpol reveals top threats in South Africa

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A new report published by the International Criminal Police Organisation, commonly known as Interpol, gives key insights into cybercrime in Africa. The result of cross-sector collaboration, the African Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2021 will help countries in Africa to understand the most prevalent threats and formulate a coordinated regional response to cybercrime.

The Interpol report identifies the most prominent threats in Africa, based on input from Interpol member countries and data drawn from private sector partners.

The top five threats are:

  • Online scams: fake emails or text messages claiming to be from a legitimate source are used to trick individuals into revealing personal or financial information;
  • Digital extortion: victims are tricked into sharing sexually compromising images which are used for blackmail;
  • Business email compromise: criminals hack into email systems to gain information about corporate payment systems, then deceive company employees into transferring money into their bank account;
  • Ransomware: cybercriminals block the computer systems of hospitals and public institutions, then demand money to restore functionality;
  • Botnets: networks of compromised machines are used as a tool to automate large-scale cyberattacks.

The African region experienced attacks against critical infrastructure and frontline services during the pandemic, Interpol said. This was most prominently seen in South Africa and Botswana. For instance, South Africa’s Life Healthcare Group, responsible for managing 66 health facilities, was hit by a serious and sustained cyberattack. Interpol’s  partner, Trend Micro, recorded millions  of threat detections in Africa from  January 2020 to February 2021:

  • Email: 679 million detections
  • Files: 8.2 million detections
  • Web: 14.3 million detections

More specifically, South Africa had 230 million threat detections in total.

The exploitation of these vulnerabilities within South Africa was further highlighted by Accenture, who identified that South Africa has the third-highest number of cybercrime victims worldwide, at a cost of  R2.2 billion a year, Interpol said.

“The scale of this cyber criminality is further evidenced when we consider that…

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Africa sees increase in ransomware, botnet attacks – but online scams still pose biggest threat

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Fraud is still the primary goal of cybercriminals operating across the continent, Interpol warns in latest market report

Fraud is still the primary goal of cybercriminals operating across the continent, Interpol warns

Online scams are still the biggest cyber threat to African citizens, a new report has revealed, though ransomware attacks are “expanding rapidly” across the continent.

The study (PDF), published by Interpol yesterday (October 25), found that internet-enabled fraud was the biggest risk to African countries, which have reported a sharp increase in the number of online banking scams, including instances of banking and credit card fraud, in 2021.

Read more of the latest ransomware news

Digital extortion – defined as “allegations of sexually compromising images or direct blackmail campaigns” – was the second highest recorded cyber threat.

While business email compromise (BEC) scams have also risen in prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic, due, in part, to the increase of businesses and organizations relying on bank wire transfers.

Better connected

The number of African citizens who have access to the internet is estimated to be around 500 million, which is a huge figure in itself, though when compared to the overall population only equates to 38%.

Leading the way is Kenya with 83% of its population being online, Nigeria with 60%, and South Africa with 56%.

RELATED Millions of South Africans caught up in security incident after debt recovery firm suffers ‘significant data breach’

Fraud has historically been an issue across the continent – in particular, phishing campaigns and romance scams – however the report found that the increase in digitization across Africa has created new avenues for crime.

The report reads: “… the move towards a digital society – particularly within the African region – has created new attack vectors for criminals to both obfuscate their identity and target new victims.”

Ransomware rising

While social engineering remains the most popular attack vector in Africa, the study found that instances of ransomware and botnet attacks are also rising.

Ransomware is the fourth most prevalent cyber-attack identified in the report, which states that more than 61% of companies in the region were…

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These are the 6 most in-demand tech jobs that companies in South Africa are struggling to recruit for

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With IT job vacancies continuing to climb as companies struggle to recruit and obtain critical skills in South Africa, there is an opportunity to upskill or reskill individuals to meet this demand.

Prudence Mabitsela, founder and managing director of Dynamic DNA, a training and skills development company empowering Africa’s ICT generation, believes these skills are needed to build the economy of South Africa and to close the digital skills and gender divide in the country.

As the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) kicks into gear and more companies speed up their digitisation strategies due to the global pandemic, now is the time to add these scarce skills to your resume to ensure employability and career advancement in the sector.

“There are many opportunities in a variety of industries not just the IT sector,” said Mabitsela. “Jobs span across banking and financial services, retail, Fintech, government, legal, logistics and many more. It is imperative that both learnerships and upskilling or reskilling of existing employees are prioritised so that we can close the digital divide.”

One way that Mabitsela believes individuals can take advantage of this skills demand is to take specialised, certified courses which can range from one year to a few months in duration for one qualification and depending on the course, and with the advancement of technology many of these can be done online.

“It is important to ensure that these courses are aligned with the MICT SETA qualifications framework and provided by an accredited training provider,” she advises. “This ensures that you receive quality education given by qualified lecturers with a certificate that is internationally recognised.”

Here are the top 6 most in-demand IT jobs in the country and the skills you need to get ahead:

1. Software developer

Developer salaries vary greatly and can be viewed here.

  • GP R48,442 to R65,604 p.m.
  • WC R45,012 to R56,685
  • KZN R42,755 to R55,882

There are key skills required in software development today that are worth investing in to ensure that your career stays on track,” said Mabitsela.

“Cloud computing is one that everyone should add to their CV in 2021 as more companies move…

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