For many years, South Africa was largely ignored by cyber criminals. Then, in 2016, there was a sudden spike in online conversations discussing South Africa on the Dark Web. By 2019, Accenture’s Insight into the cyber threat landscape in South Africa revealed that South Africa had the third-highest number of cybercrime victims of any country in the world. We had become a target.
Today, Africa is the new frontier for cyber criminals, and South Africa’s top digital forensics lab, Cyanre, has been at the forefront of investigating these breaches and why they occur.
“We have the perfect storm locally,” explains Professor Danny Myburgh, founder and MD of Cyanre. “The widespread and relatively fast roll-out of fibre lines across the country, combined with the rapid adoption of computer and mobile technologies means that our enterprises and employees are online and completely dependent on their networks.
“Unfortunately, cyber legislation and co-operation has not kept pace with this growth. Similarly, large investments into technology at an enterprise-level have not been matched by cybersecurity budgets. The result is that Africa is vulnerable to growing cyberthreats.”
First-hand experience into tracking and tracing cybercriminals
When a business experiences a cyberbreach or a ransomware attack, Cyanre’s digital forensic experts are often the first point of call. This means Myburgh and his team have first-hand experience of the vulnerabilities facing South African companies, as well as what these breaches are costing them.
“In 2019, a typical ransomware demand that we dealt with on behalf of our clients was around R400 000 in bitcoin,” says Myburgh. “In 2021, the highest demand we received was for R78 million at the current bitcoin price. Overall, the average bitcoin ransom demand we are seeing is around R20 million.”
It’s a steep price to pay, notwithstanding the reputational damage a business can sustain if personal client data is released or business continuity is impacted.
“Most organisations today are insured against ransomware attacks, but insurance companies are now expecting to see that all due care was taken to protect against cyberbreaches before they will pay out,” says Myburgh. “Organisations therefore require 360 degree multi-layered protection and 24/7 cyber monitoring and response to protect their networks, information and reputations.”
Launching Cybercom, the uniquely positioned cybersecurity experts
In response to the growing threat that Cyanre investigates on a daily basis, Myburgh and his team have launched Cybercom, a cybersecurity business that leverages Cyanre’s expertise and the expert partnerships developed in this sector over almost two decades to offer South African businesses 360 degree protection by securing their information, detecting their vulnerabilities, and responding to their incidents.
“We have been at the coalface of investigations into how cybercriminals are attacking South African businesses for almost two decades,” says Myburgh. “I personally have been heavily involved in the development of South Africa’s legal posture in response to changing cybercrime rates and how we can combat them. We don’t see cybercrimes once or twice a year – our team deals with them daily and these insights, experiences and the partnerships we’ve built to deliver state-of-the-art cyber security solutions are the reason why we are now providing this expertise to the South African and African market in a standalone business, Cybercom.”
Cybercom’s partners include digital forensics experts, Cyanre, specialist cyberthreat consultants, WolfPack, and Paladion, an AI-Driven Managed Detection and Response (MDR) provider with over two decades of experience in cyber security.
“Cybercom is a software agnostic solutions provider that is focused in delivering the right solutions for businesses in the current and future cyber environment. We aren’t selling products. We’re delivering peace of mind and an expert collaboration that can respond at speed when a business needs us most,” concludes Myburgh.