ZAMOKUHLE AJA-OKORIE
CYBER ATTACK
What next?
S
outh Africa ranks third in the world for cybercrimes costing approximately R2.2-billion annually. Throughout the globe, cybercriminals ind new ways to target organisations. Regardless of the size of your business no network is impenetrable. Organisations can improve their cyber security position by remediating identi ied gaps and by establishing continual process improvement. If your business has fallen victim to a data breach, consider the following steps: Step 1: Isolate And Contain The Breach Start by determining the compromised server. Identify and mitigate the vulnerabilities used to illegally access your network by isolating the a fected endpoints and servers to ensure that other servers or devices won't be infected. Preserving the evidence will be key in accessing how the breach occurred and the responsible party.
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CYBERATTACK
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Step 2: Seek Professional Help Seek the services of IT security specialists. Remedying the situation inhouse may be ine icient and potentially inadequate; a third-party audit is strongly advised. They will ind other vulnerabilities facing your organisation and o fer remedies to patching them.
Step 3: Alert Authorities Report the incident to law enforcement authorities and your local African regulator as soon as possible. If you operate internationally notify the a fected country's data regulator. Internationally companies are liable to report security data breaches and incidents. Companies can attract massive penalties from regulatory agencies should they fail to report the incident or report it late. Bookings.com was ined €475,000 for reporting a data breach 22 days after the attack.
WITH THE INDUSTRIALISATION OF CYBERCRIME, IT HAS BECOME A GLOBAL BUSINESS THAT GENERATES MORE REVENUE THAN THE DRUG TRADE TODAY. WEAPONISED CYBER THREATS CONTINUE TO ADVANCE AND FURTHER CRIPPLE GLOBAL COMMERCE. MALICIOUS ACTORS HAVE CLEANED THEIR ACTS AND RUN SOPHISTICATED OPERATIONS. THEY PENETRATE SYSTEMS LOOKING FOR VULNERABLE INFRASTRUCTURE AND THEN THEY ATTACK. SO WHAT SHOULD YOU DO WHEN THEY ATTACK?