South Africa is unaware of what cyber crime is costing the country and non-profit body ISG Africa has called for collaboration between the business and public sector to report on data loss and cyber crime incidents.
“It is now 2011 and we still don't have an independent centre to allow business stakeholders to unite against electronic attacks,” said Karel Rode, ISG Africa director, during an ISG Africa chapter meeting held this week in Woodmead.
He pointed out that SA experiences the third-highest phishing attack rates in the world, and last year South African banks lost R50 million to online criminals. “If [business] doesn't report cyber crime or data loss, we will never have good statistics and won't receive the much-needed budgets from government to fight cyber crime.”
Craig Rosewarne, ISG Africa chairman, said: “If people aren't reporting cyber crime incidents, the problem is worse than we realise.” He presented an overview of coordinated attacks made against international business and governments.
Quoting figures around the cost of cyber warfare, Rosewarne said both the UK and US defence departments have prioritised investment in defensive strategies and legislation to fight hostile attacks made by large-scale cyber crime syndicates.
Rosewarne said: “The UK cabinet reported that the cost of cyber crime to the UK, per annum, is at least $43 billion. The majority of crimes contributing to these figures come from online theft and espionage. The US Department of Defence has allocated a budget of $38.5 billion to the US Cyber Command.”
Rosewarne explained that SA is not yet ready to defend itself against large-scale cyber attacks similar to its international counterparts, as it lacks the necessary financial investment, research, collaboration and government policies to fight cyber crime.
He urged ISG Africa to partner with the public and private sectors including the South African police cyber crime unit, the banking sector, Sabric, CSIR, universities and Internet service providers.
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