The IT security concerns, challenges and investment by South African enterprises are closely aligned with those of their international counterparts.
This is according to a new global survey by network security firm Fortinet. The study examines the changing attitudes towards security in business. It includes responses from 1 801 IT decision-makers from 16 countries, including SA.
According to the survey, 82% of South African enterprises surveyed (versus 85% international average) have been victims of a security breach in the past two years.
Top threats experienced in the past two years among South African companies were malware and ransomware, reported by 55% of respondents (versus 47% international average). This was followed by internal or external data breaches, reported by 46% of South African respondents (versus 37% international average).
In SA, key investment areas were upgrade of security solutions, reported by 81% of South African and 67% of international respondents, followed by new security solutions and services, reported by 56% of South African respondents (versus 60% internationally).
Some 54% of South African and 52% of international respondents had invested in staff training and certification and employee education, while 28% of South African respondents and 23% of international respondents had invested in new hires in IT security.
Implementation of security policies and processes was an investment by 50% of South African respondents (versus 57% internationally).
"Where as recently as two years ago, South Africa lagged the rest of the developed world in terms of IT security focus, we now see local enterprises closely following international trends on the IT security drivers, investment and challenges they face," says Paul Williams, country manager for Southern Africa at Fortinet.
Williams adds that SA, included in the international survey for the first time, was stepping up its focus on IT security largely due to high-profile breaches and the growing move to the cloud.
SA recently suffered the biggest data leak to date when personal information of about 30 million South Africans was compromised. One of SA's largest hosting companies, data centre operator Hetzner, was also hacked recently.
The survey found 71% of South African IT security decision-makers believe cloud security is becoming a growing priority - slightly less than the 74% global average. As a result, 56% of the South African respondents, compared with 50% globally, plan investment in cloud security in the next 12 months, says Fortinet.
"IT security has always been something of a 'grudge purchase', and we still see enterprises spurred to action after a breach or high profile incident has taken place," says Williams.
"Our research found 82% of local enterprises and 85% of global enterprises had experienced a security breach in the past two years. 55% of South African IT decision-makers (versus 49% internationally) said there had been an increased focus on IT security following global cyber attacks such as WannaCry. The scale and profile of global cyber attacks is bringing security to the attention of the board."
Increased pressure from regulators has become an important driver of board awareness, said 35% of local and 34% of international respondents. Despite the spiralling cyber crime risk, IT decision-makers still feel board members do not prioritise IT security as they should.
Some 41% of local respondents and 48% of international respondents said they believe IT security is still not a top priority discussion for the board. 74% of the South African respondents and 77% of international respondents said cyber security should become a top management priority.
This doesn't seem to affect budgets, since 61% of enterprises, both in South Africa and internationally, stated they spend over 10% of their IT budget on security, says Fortinet. Some 76% of the local and 71% of international respondents said their IT security budget had increased from the previous year.
"As organisations embrace digital transformation, we see IT decision-makers emphasising that cyber security is a strategic business investment. It is interesting to note that South Africa has progressed in recent years, with local enterprise executives increasing their focus and investment on IT security. The key challenges they face now appear to include the ongoing vulnerability posed by employees, high-level information security skills shortages and buy-in from executive level," says Williams.
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