In a study by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Fortinet in 2017, over 400 global decision-makers across a wide variety of industries, responsible for the security of their organisation’s critical infrastructure, were asked about the security risks they are facing and how prepared they are to mitigate these risks.
The survey was aimed at discovering how these companies’ decision-makers view their progress in their security transformation in concurrence with digital transformation. Questions were also aimed at respondents’ governance and procedures around security, and qualifications and skills to manage threats.
According to Paul Williams, Fortinet SA country manager, the results showed that South Africa’s marketplace and maturity value, in terms of cyber security and other security threats as well as preparedness, is on par with the rest of the world.
The survey results, however, also showed that South Africa is lagging in its response time to security breaches.
According to Williams, the lagging response rate to security breaches is the result of a skills shortage in the country.
Despite being on par with new technology to monitor, detect, and mitigate these risks, there is a limited number of people in South Africa with the specific and necessary skill set.
Some of the most concerning threats for South African businesses include malware attacks, ransomware attacks, botnet attacks, as well as cyber security hacks across the board, whether it is for identification documentation, other personal information, corporate espionage, or politically orientated.
According to Williams, intelligent ransomware and malware attacks have also been surfacing as new technology now allows them to do so.
“In 2018, another global occurrence we’ve seen is an increase in attacks on the Sandbox. Attackers block and attack the solution-set where they are trying to manipulate the Sandbox,” says Williams.
The business impact of a security breach can either be minor, or it can be crippling – all depends on the type of breach and how it occurred, he adds, making training and upskilling critical.