Johannesburg, 27 Aug 2021
Brainstorm’s CISO Directory, an annual resource that highlights the critical work that South African heads of cyber security do to protect organisations from attack, is now available for purchase from leading retailers and Brainstorm’s online store.
Now in its second year, the directory showcases the men and women who lead infosec strategy for South Africa’s top organisations, and aims to help boost their recognition and importance in the corporate hierarchy.
Adrian Hinchcliffe, editor-in-chief of Brainstorm, says when Brainstorm debuted the CISO Directory last year, South Africa, along with the rest of the world, was in the early grips of the COVID-19 pandemic. “2020 was undoubtedly the year when the CISO and cyber security teams emerged from the background to the vanguard of enabling business productivity.”
This year, he says, as the second edition is produced, the pandemic is still far from over, but organisations have had the time to react, adapt and evolve their thinking and ways of operating.
He adds that, over this time, several businesses have disappeared, and with them, a slew of jobs, but for those whose doors are still open, there’s been a questioning of the logic behind making workforces commute every day and the need for central office locations when work-from-home has proven so effective.
“Reading through close to 100 CISO profiles in the 2021 edition, it’s clear that the top priority for those in charge of cyber security is enabling the workforce to work from home, and do this safely. Forward-thinking companies had long enabled their employees to work remotely, well before the pandemic made this mandatory,” Hinchcliffe says.
But although they were prepared to have staff working away from the office, no company was prepared for this to be for such a long time, or on such a massive scale. “Realising that organisations across the board were unprepared, bad actors were quick to jump on the bandwagon, which reflected in the barrage of attacks they launched against businesses.”
In fact, he says cyber security vendors say attacks grew anywhere from 62% to 700%+ during the last year. “And this increase in attacks, combined with a geographically spread out workforce, the introduction of POPIA, and a rush towards cloud and digital transformation, have all contributed towards companies finally waking up to the need to take cyber security seriously,” Hinchcliffe says.
To purchase the CIO Directory 2021, in print or eBook format, go to Brainstorm’s online store.