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Criminals are increasingly swapping guns and ski masks for a computer and the City of Joburg could find out the hard way why cybersecurity should not be neglected.
The clock is ticking as hackers threaten to release sensitive data if no ransom is received by 5pm today. The city was forced to shut its website and e-services on Friday after its system was infiltrated by a group calling itself Shadow Kill Hackers, who demanded payment of four bitcoins (approximately R555, 000) or they would upload all hijacked data on to the internet.
Though the city said no data had been compromised, the group posted on Twitter that it had full access, and used screenshots of data hacked from First Group SA’s system as an example of what could happen if the ransom was not paid. The hospitality group confirmed its cybersecurity had been compromised but said it had refused to give in to the ransom demands and, instead, worked with the authorities to take the fight to the hackers.
Security expert and J2 Software chief executive John McLoughlin said: “The global cybersecurity market is booming, the demand for cybersecurity solutions is huge. Security spend has already started outpacing information technology spend, but he lamented that South Africa was not yet growing at the same rate. However, with the recent increase in cyberattack incidents, there was a strong growth in interest and understanding.
“With the ever-increasing cybersecurity risks and regulations being introduced, business leaders are fast realising that there is more to be protected and serious penalties for not complying,” he said.
Craig Freer, executive head of cloud and managed services at IT firm, Vox, said the cyberattack on the city’s network shone a spotlight on how vulnerable some organisations were, irrespective of their size.
“Security is no longer a luxury. It is something that must take top priority, not just amongst large corporates, but small to medium enterprises as well. Cybersecurity must be addressed at board level and not left being relegated to an IT decision-maker,” he said.
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