Amid rising cybercrime, ongoing lockdowns, and the looming Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) deadline in South Africa, organisations and their employees are facing a staggering increase in cyber risks as they continue to move more of their operations online to enable remote working.
AVeS Cyber Security, which is based in Weltevreden Park, launched a risk-based security awareness and education campaign on July 2 to assist organisations in managing their cyber risks more proactively. Through this campaign, the company is encouraging and teaching organisations to be pragmatic in planning and implementing solutions that address cyber security threats by taking quick assessments to identify current cyber risks of IT users within organisations; planning and strategising on suitable approaches that will resonate with users in a way that facilitates IT behaviour change – whether it be through workshops, interactive group games, a training platform, or end-to-end awareness campaigns; and finally, testing the initiatives for effectiveness.
“It is crucial for all organisations to realise that their employees have a defining role to play in strengthening the business’ cyber security capabilities and lowering its cyber risk exposure. It is simply not the responsibility of the IT department or technology alone. Cyber risk remains a business risk,” said AVeS’ group CEO, Charl Ueckermann
Through the campaign the objective was clear on how managing an organisation’s risks proactively require business leaders to combine people, process and technology in their cyber security initiatives.
South Africa’s newly introduced data privacy legislation, POPIA, aims to ensure that organisations protect client’s data as South Africa’s developing digital infrastructure becomes the target of more opportunistic and targeted cyber crime. Security awareness and training can be used to strategically meet some of the legislation’s data privacy requirements while mitigating cyber risks and attacks, reducing operational costs, and protecting the business’s assets.
