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Sibanye-Stillwater suffers cyber attack on global IT systems

Admire Moyo
By Admire Moyo, ITWeb news editor.
Johannesburg, 11 Jul 2024
The Sibanye-Stillwater attack comes as South African organisations are increasingly being targeted by cyber criminals.
The Sibanye-Stillwater attack comes as South African organisations are increasingly being targeted by cyber criminals.

JSE-listed multinational mining and metals processing group Sibanye-Stillwater’s global IT systems have been hit by a cyber attack.

In a statement today, the company says: “Sibanye-Stillwater advises stakeholders that it has experienced a cyber attack that is affecting its IT systems globally.

“As soon as the company became aware of the incident, immediate containment measures were implemented in line with our incident response plan, to proactively isolate IT systems and safeguard data.”

According to the company, while the investigation into the incident is ongoing, there has been limited disruption to the group’s operations globally.

“Sibanye-Stillwater takes this incident seriously and is committed to addressing the cyber attack. Our efforts remain focused on working towards the full remediation of the effects of this attack. We are voluntarily reporting this incident to the appropriate regulators and will provide further updates as necessary.”

The attack comes as South African organisations are increasingly being targeted by cyber criminals.

Yesterday, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure revealed that cyber criminals looted R300 million from the ministry in a period spanning 10 years.

Recent research by cyber security company and VPN provider Surfshark noted SA’s cyber crime density – the percentage of cyber crime victims among a specific number of internet users –placed the country in fifth position globally.

Other companies that have been hit by cyber attacks include TransUnion, Dis-Chem, Experian and the Legal Practitioners Fidelity Fund.

During ITWeb Security Summit 2024, the office of the Information Regulator, which enforces the Protection of Personal Information Act, said it had seen an increase in the number of data breaches reported by local firms.

In the 2022 financial year (February 2023), the Information Regulator received 500 notifications of data breaches or security incidents. In the 2023 financial year (February 2024), the number spiked to over 1 700 reported security compromises – more than triple the amount.

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