Kabelo Makwane Managing Executive for Cloud, Hosting, and Security, Vodacom Business

It has been said that Africa missed the First Industrial Revolution, but it is more than making up for this now, leapfrogging its way into the digital age and embracing it with enormous enthusiasm. While Africa may have been slower to industrialise, its digital transformation has been swift and impactful, bypassing traditional phases of technological evolution. New technologies are received with gusto, especially those enabling online presence, e-commerce, mobility, and greater customer engagement. Countries are on their own determined digital journeys to help their populations thrive and leverage hybrid ways of working.

Businesses and governments are seeking ways to use digital for competitive advantage, scaling for growth and capacity, and building business resilience. However, the challenge comes when considering that using digital innovation to meet opportunities must be simultaneously coupled with a rugged, ongoing, and trustworthy cybersecurity strategy. One cannot function without the other, without risking credibility in the event of an attack or facing reduced planning, management, or customer care due to inaccurate or poorly managed data.

Cybercrime has risen rapidly to top the list of business concerns. While cybercrime is not new and digital protection has been around for many years, the Internet of Things (IoT) and the sudden shift to work-from-home models exponentially exacerbated the situation, with incidents rising by an estimated 600%. And even now, cybercrime is steadily increasing, costing trillions of dollars globally on an annual basis.

“People often ask why their organisation would be targeted, but the question should be, why wouldn’t they?” says Kabelo Makwane, Managing Executive for Cloud, Hosting, and Security at Vodacom Business. “Threat actors are generally financially motivated, but there are other contemptible reasons. While big enterprises are valued for the quality and quantity of the data, cybercriminals wish to use to hold at ransom or for other nefarious purposes, making them targets, users are just as easy to target, especially if they provide a way into the organisation’s network.”

“No industry is immune, but prime targets include healthcare, government, financial services, and telecommunications. Threat actors are experts in surveying and monitoring for cybersecurity weaknesses. In the same way we protect our homes with walls and locked doors and windows to prevent the perception of being soft targets, we need to apply the same attack prevention principles and strategies to our networks and data.”

Vodacom Business decided to partner with Omdia, a global research company to develop a comprehensive cybersecurity report looking into cybersecurity trends and perceptions of cybersecurity professionals in South Africa and across Africa. Set to be officially launched in October, the report will provide crucial insights and recommendations to enhance cybersecurity strategies across the continent. According to Maxine Holt, Senior Director of Content at Omdia, one of the alarming findings is that 90% of the organisations surveyed believe that the incidence of cyber threats has either stayed the same or worsened over the past two years.

“Of the organisations surveyed, 62% or two-thirds of the 90%, think attacks have increased or worsened over the past two years,” says Holt. “Many organisations are suffering breaches and incidents, and in regions with minimal or patchy cybersecurity frameworks, they become soft attack targets. There are companies that have significant gaps in managing their cybersecurity, and addressing these vulnerabilities must be a top priority.” Makwane emphasises the particular rise in ransomware and phishing attacks, which open the door for more complex threats. “We have seen many cybercrime incidences in both the public and private sectors, and what’s also concerning is the rise in attacks on individuals, especially where personal identities have been compromised as a result of organisational attacks.”

“While the adoption of AI has helped improve the cybersecurity agility and efficiency of enterprises, it has also helped improve the efficacy of cybercriminals. Both AI and large language models present a whole new set of challenges,” continues Makwane.

“Threat actors are using GenAI to target users, and I’ve seen some impressive deep fake threats. But GenAI can also be used for good. AI is being implemented in the Security Operations Centre (SOC) sector, but I’m not seeing AI’s security potential receiving the desired degree of prominence. We also need to ensure data integrity to correct AI, otherwise, it produces spurious information. AI and its development must be on the agenda.”

Makwane believes that cybersecurity is not just about technology but also about people. “It’s not enough for organisations to be technologically enabled; they need to be future-secure, which means incorporating the human aspect. Cybersecurity is not the exclusive domain or responsibility of the CIO, CTO, or CISO. It is a top-tobottom responsibility, and this means ensuring our organisations give regular, authoritative, tailored, and engaging training to every single employee, from the CEO to the factory floor worker.”

In securing an organisation’s future, attention needs to be paid to the regular assessment and analysis of every aspect of the digital security realm, including third-party partners.

“Cybersecurity may seem daunting, but it is a wonderful industry, and you’re never alone. You always have peers, vendors, and partners to turn to, especially those with trusted relationships, to share processes and gather intelligence. Face cybersecurity head-on. It’s not enough to be just digitally resilient. Find partners ready and able to help implement the solutions you need.”

“At Vodacom Business, we leverage our partnerships with world-leading security providers, giving organisations of all sizes affordable access to market-leading security services and expertise to help protect their most important assets. Through this, we help businesses across Africa secure their digital future.”

www.vodacombusiness.co.za