COUNTRY FOCUS : SOUTH AFRICA
Vishal Barapatre , Group Chief Technology Officer ,
In2IT Technologies by 2100 , faces escalating cyber risks amidst rapid technological advancements . Challenges , including limited resources , inadequate cyber awareness , and economic constraints , marked the continent ’ s cybersecurity landscape in 2023 . This shows the need to strengthen cybersecurity readiness given the critical development requirements .
Kenya , 76 , Nigeria , 75 , and Ghana , 74 lead the charge in cybersecurity readiness , showcasing robust strategies backed by local governments . Ghana ’ s significant progress in cybersecurity , evidenced by its climb in the Global Cybersecurity Index , reflects the region ’ s commitment to cybersecurity excellence .
Third-party IT providers can play a crucial role in supporting the BPO model by offering specialised IT services and infrastructure management .
Anna Collard ,
SVP Content Strategy and Evangelist , KnowBe4 Africa
Gregg Sanders , GM Digital Solutions ,
NEC XON
Byron Horn-Botha , Business Unit Head ,
Arcserve Southern Africa
Sustainability and natural resources
The cancellation of the swimming portion of a practice run for the Olympic triathlon due to concerns about water quality in the Seine River has highlighted the critical need for real-time water quality monitoring . This decision , influenced by weather-related fluctuations in water quality , underscores the importance of reliable and timely data in managing water resources for both recreational and essential public use .
Similar events , such as South Africa ’ s Midmar Mile swim and the Dusi River Canoe Marathon , have also faced E coli concerns in the past . These renowned sporting events , which draw participants from around the world , have had to implement stringent water quality monitoring and management practices to ensure the safety of athletes .
The recurring issues with E coli contamination in these water bodies underscore the global challenge of maintaining clean and safe water for recreational use , further highlighting the need for advanced real-time monitoring solutions .
One such technological advancement is the Proteus range of multiparameter sensors , developed by Proteus Instruments , a key partner of NEC XON . This state-ofthe-art monitoring platform offers accurate , reliable , and low-maintenance monitoring of dissolved organic matter and other key metrics including , but not limited to , Coliforms , Biochemical Oxygen Demand , BOD and Dissolved Organic Carbon , DOC . The Proteus sensors provide real-time data on water quality , helping authorities make informed decisions quickly .
These sensors can be used for a wide range of purposes , including Municipal Water Quality Monitoring , Recreational Water Safety , Industrial and Environmental Monitoring . In an era where water quality can fluctuate rapidly , having the right tools to monitor and respond is not just a luxury , it is a necessity .
Disaster recovery
According to Arcserve Southern Africa , a well-defined disaster recovery plan is crucial for minimising downtime and ensuring operations are returned to normal , quickly . Any such plans should also incorporate a data backup strategy – including Recovery Point and Time Objectives , RPOs and RTOs – plus detailed procedures for data restoration , system recovery , business continuity and categorisation and classification of data .
Regular testing and updating of disaster recovery plans are essential processes for ensuring it will continue to be effective as your business evolves .
Data backups are fundamental to achieving data resilience and the 3-2-1-1 backup strategy is the best way to ensure your backups are always safeguarded and available . It is a simple concept , keep three copies of your data , one primary and two backups , with two copies stored locally in two formats and one copy stored offsite in the cloud or secure storage . The last one stands for immutable storage , where your backups are saved in a write-once-read-many-times format that cannot be altered or deleted .
Immutability differs from encryption in that there is no key , so there should be no way to read or reverse the immutability . That gives you a last line of defence against disasters .
Cloud services like AWS also provide solutions like S3 Object Lock , an immutable format that lets you take advantage of the cloud without sacrificing security . Cloud-based solutions like Arcserve SaaS Backup offer rapid recovery with automated backups and replication to multiple data centres so that even if a local disaster strikes , data remains accessible . Ensuring data resilience with SaaS backup does not have to cost an arm and a leg . p
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