Dylan Bettencourt
South Africa remains severely underprepared for the possibility of cyber attacks, despite plans to protect national cybersecurity being drawn up 10 years ago.
Cyber attacks have been on the rise since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Last year Transnet became a victim of a ransomware attack. The Department of Justice was also targeted late last year.
The attacks, which are focused on South Africa’s critical infrastructure, are expected to increase, Business Insider reported.
In 2012 the government approved the National Cybersecurity Policy Framework (NCPF), which made it through an official gazette three years later.
The framework was established to “ensure a focused and all-embracing safety and security response in respect of the cybersecurity environment”.
“The Department of Defence and Military Veterans has overall responsibility for coordination, accountability, and implementation of cyber defence measures in the Republic as an integral part of its national defence mandate,” the NCPF noted.
After eight years the Department of Defence sought to finalise its cyber defence strategy but a recent meeting raised serious concerns about its progress and preparation.
The department was mandated to create a unified cyber command to protect the national critical information infrastructure.
For this to be done, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) had to employ staff dedicated to the mandate, sign training partnerships and develop its strategy.
While the army has managed to do all of that, the team could still not identify cyber threats which were showcased during a recent meeting.
But as with most things with the SANDF, funding concerns have been pinned as the reason behind its cyber department failures, with reports suggesting the cyber command cannot afford the right software.
Image source: @USNavalInstitute
