Since the Covid-19 pandemic brought the world to its knees, the business use of virtual collaboration tools has skyrocketed, bringing new security and compliance challenges. The urgent need for modern systems, tools, and applications, often with limited configuration time for less technologically advanced businesses, came at a price, and this transition towards virtual collaboration resulted in large datasets being generated and transmitted through emails and platforms, such as Teams, Zoom and WhatsApp, to name a few. Concurrently, this period created a hive of opportunities for social engineering attacks, which Mimecast reports increased by 64% in 2020, compared to the year before.

Dr Sizwe Gwala, head: Data Governance at Absa Group Compliance, says cybersecurity teams, most of which were already grappling with trying to manage the existing cyber threats to their businesses, suddenly had a slew of new responsibilities, as well as additional tools, systems, and huge datasets to safeguard within a short space of time.