It’s business as usual for South Africa’s banks, despite warnings about the “Silence” hacking group targeting local institutions.
SABRIC, the South African Banking Risk Information Centre has issued a statement following a warning from Kaspersky on 13 January 2020 about potential malware attacks on major banks in the sub-Saharan Africa region.
Kaspersky believes that the threat actors are most likely the Russian Silence hacking group, which has been responsible for the theft of millions of dollars globally.
SABRIC states that there has been no impact on South Africa’s banks to date and it is business as usual with all banking services operating normally.
“Nevertheless, the banking industry takes cybersecurity very seriously and has robust risk mitigation strategies in place,” SABRIC states.
“Because banks, as the custodians of money, are continuously under attack globally, these strategies are agile and are reviewed as new threats are identified.”
SABRIC acting CEO Susan Potgieter comments: “The banking industry collaborates by sharing information to ensure that our cyber resilience is continually strengthened. We will continue to monitor this situation very closely as an industry.”