As South Africa’s Minister of State Security, David Mahlobo delivered his opening address at the State Security Cybersecurity Conference in Pretoria recently, new global research from Grant Thornton’s International Business Report (IBR) on cyber security reveals that cyber-attacks are taking a serious toll on business. The new survey highlights that one out of every ten (10%) South African private sector businesses have experienced a cyber-attack in the past year, compared with a global incidence of 15%. However, the figures published for South African businesses are based on qualitative surveys, and not on verified quantitative data. At present, South African companies are not forced to report on cybercrime or any cyber-attacks experienced in their organisations because this is not a legal requirement – hence the need for qualitative surveys to assess the current situation in the country. Parliament may recently have passed the new Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act, but the full requirements will only come into force once the POPI Regulator has been appointed and is fully functioning. A fully functioning POPI Regulator is expected to be up and running in South Africa by end of 2016 or early 2017.
Contact Vanessa Evans, Grant Thornton, Tel 010 590-7200, vanessa.evans@za.gt.com
