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EDITOR’S QUESTION
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RIAAN BADENHORST,
GENERAL MANAGER,
KASPERSKY LAB AFRICA
T
he continued hype centred towards
the topic of cybercrime is no hype at
all. It is a very real and growing issue
that still needs tangible and immediate
attention. In fact, Kaspersky Lab’s recently
presented Cybersecurity Trends in the
Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META)
region notes that there has been an 8.5%
increase in ransomware attacks in Q1 of
2018 compared to the results of last year.
Given the impact that notorious ransomware
attacks had in 2017, this increase comes
as no surprise. However, the concern is that
these attacks will only grow in intricacy.
Despite research revealing that the cost of
cybersecurity incidents is growing, budget
spend on IT security in the META region is on
the decline, where only 62% of companies
in the region are actually investing in
cybersecurity, 3% less than 2016.
One must ask if this, then, is because
companies are confident in their security
and have made significant investments
already, or if they are becoming complacent?
Given an expected growth in threats, but a
decrease in efforts spent around managing
this, it will likely leave businesses with some
serious challenges to overcome. The bottom
line is that given the realities of growing
cyberthreats, IT security must remain a priority
and businesses should be driving continuous
proactive measures to develop IT security
strategies that ensure their organisation, and
their staff, are cyber smart and fully prepared
for any potential risks. For any cyberstrategy to
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make a real impact, it must be underpinned by
threat intelligence and should encompass four
distinct, universal phases, including:
• Threat prevention: This phase is mostly
covered by technology solutions – such as
a firewall or anti-virus solution
• Detection: This requires a business to
invest in advanced tools and expertise
which will allow the business time to
identify the indicators of attack, spot
an incident, investigate it and mitigate
the threat
“
DESPITE RESEARCH
REVEALING THAT
THE COST OF
CYBERSECURITY
INCIDENTS IS
GROWING, BUDGET
SPEND ON IT
SECURITY IN THE
META REGION IS ON
THE DECLINE.
• However, once detected, responding to
the threat then becomes crucial. Within
this phase, businesses need to ensure
that the approach taken is effective and
that the threat is dealt with entirely
• Lastly, a sound cybersecurity strategy
should also examine the prediction of
future attacks, gaining an understanding
of the attack surface to help the business
define its long-term strategic defence
capabilities to avoid future risk
Capitalising on such an approach does
not need to be daunting. While it may
feel overwhelming to undertake this
in-house, seeking advice from reputable
experts in the cybersecurity space will
allow businesses to take that initial step of
assessing its current situation and potential
vulnerabilities and put steps in place to
build such a strategy. This would not only
include investment in the right technology,
but the implementation of processes
that provide the tools to allow a business
to ensure these phases are pursued
simultaneously and with threat intelligence
at the centre.
Moving beyond the hype means recognising
that offsetting growing cyberthreats requires
a 360-degree view of the methods, tactics
and tools used by cybercriminals – and
threat intelligence will provide this – ensuring
solid measures are actioned towards building
an IT security strategy that detects threats
and prevents them. n
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