Johannesburg, 04 Jun 2025
Too many South African organisations continue to neglect basic network security hygiene and best practice, putting themselves at serious risk, warns Muzi Langa, MD of ManTK IT Solution, a specialist IT security and services provider.
ManTK IT Solution, which serves a broad range of enterprises with a particular focus on public sector organisations and municipalities, often uncovers network security shortcomings when working on unrelated systems, says Langa.
“We see what’s really happening on the ground, and we find that too many organisations are putting themselves at risk by neglecting the basics,” he says.
Langa notes that cyber risk is increasing, while IT environments are becoming increasingly complex. “This makes network administration, monitoring and access control more challenging. However, it is crucial that organisations stay on top of network security. Awareness appears to be lacking about how important it is. Many people appear to think of cyber risk in terms of threat actors stealing money, but they don’t consider the implications of an attack taking down their systems,” he says.
Langa emphasises the need for basic best practices such as strong password policies, access control, encryption software updates and patching, firewalls, intrusion protection, and employee awareness and education.
“A common threat we see in network security shortfalls is the issue of knowledge. For example, organisations may have network security policies in place but those policies are not really designed for their specific environment. Another challenge is when IT security procurement is governed by committees that don’t have cyber security expertise, and may not understand all the elements required for a robust cyber security profile.”
ManTK IT Solution offers services to safeguard both the physical infrastructure and the digital components of an organisation's ICT environment, including hardware, software, networks, data and the people who use and manage them.
Langa says: “As an organisation, we work with cyber security specialists to deliver a range of solutions, including vulnerability assessments and system hardening, and we can support employee training and awareness around network security best practice. The reports we produce on network security vulnerabilities also support CIOs and CISOs in motivating for budget for the necessary solutions or outsourced services.”
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