Smangele Nkosi – General Manager, Cisco South Africa

Today’s threat landscape is more complex than ever, with billions of users, devices, and IoT devices connecting to enterprise networks, cloud applications, and data. With this scale of use increasing at unprecedented rates, and the race for organisations to implement AI applications effectively, it’s no surprise that security is lagging behind. While ransomware and phishing are well known, organisations are also being hit by credential stuffing, supply chain attacks, social engineering, and cryptojacking.

In Cisco’s 2024 Cybersecurity Readiness Index, 8 000 business and cybersecurity leaders participated across 30 global markets, including financial services, retail, technology services and manufacturing.

Based on five pillars of cybersecurity readiness that are most relevant to securing today’s organisations — Identity Intelligence, Network Resilience, Machine Trustworthiness, Cloud Reinforcement, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Fortification — the study shows very few organisations are prepared to defend against today’s rapidly evolving threat landscape. Only 3% of respondent organisations qualify for the Mature category. Nearly three-quarters (71%) fall in the bottom two categories (Formative, 60% and Beginner, 11%).

Almost three quarters of companies (73%) believe that a cybersecurity incident will disrupt their business in the next 12 to 24 months, but 31 % feel confident that they can handle an attack. There is a gap between companies’ perception of their readiness, and the reality of how few organisations are fully mature and prepared for today’s risky landscape.

As a global cybersecurity powerhouse, Cisco is taking the lead with the launch of Cisco Secure Access in South Africa. “At a time when cybersecurity is one of the top concerns of every business and public sector leader, our goal is to provide organisations with advanced protection and help them operate more securely in an increasingly digital landscape,” says Cisco South Africa GM Smangele Nkosi.

Cisco Secure Access is strategically designed to deliver carrier-neutral, cloud-hosted security services. With high availability, organisations of all sizes can now directly access Cisco’s robust security ecosystem, built to withstand the most sophisticated cyber threats.

At the heart of this transformation is Cisco’s new Point of Presence (PoP), hosted at AWS. Thanks to this point of presence, South African users will benefit from lower latency, improved performance, and enhanced security that integrates zero-trust principles without compromising user experience.

AI has been the dominant theme of the business world over the past couple of years. At its current level of mass scale impact, AI may overtake the cloud and even the internet in its significance as a technology disruptor. However, as companies learn more about AI, they are beginning to realise they may not be as prepared as they thought.

The Cisco 2024 AI Readiness Index highlights that organisations globally have seen a decline across multiple areas of AI readiness. Business leaders do not feel they have made enough progress towards their AI ambitions. As they race to make up ground, developing AI-powered applications exposes companies to additional security risks.

Cisco has recently introduced AI Defense, a solution designed to protect enterprises as they embark on AI-driven transformations. By leveraging AI-powered threat detection and automated response, businesses can stay ahead of cyber adversaries and can safely build and deploy AI applications. Cisco is redefining the cybersecurity landscape in South Africa, ensuring that businesses and institutions can operate securely, efficiently, and with confidence in an increasingly digital world.

For more information or to talk to an expert to learn more on Secure Cisco Access www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/security/secure-access/talk-to-an-expert.html