Johannesburg - Audit, tax and advisory services company BDO in partnership with Forensic Intelligence Data Solutions yesterday launched a cyber and forensic laboratory to assist companies in fighting growing cybercrime in South Africa.
According to the SA Banking Risk Information Centre, South Africa loses about R2.2 billion every year through cybercrime.
Last month Standard Bank lost R300 million from a credit card scam in Japan. When Sony Entertainment was hacked in November 2014 it lost millions of dollars.
Graham Croock, a director of IT audit and risk at BDO, said yesterday that South Africa was ranked as one of the highest countries in the world in terms of experiencing cybercrime. The financial services and health-care sectors were the main targets of the crimes.
BDO said the development of the lab stemmed from the realisation that there was a shortage of available expertise in the data space worldwide and the growing need for a specialised lab to serve Africa.
Croock said the lab would offer specialised services relating to advanced analytics, cyberpractice, forensic and digital forensic auditing.
Croock said the information security legislation in South Africa was “behind the times” and not kept up to speed with the changes in cybercrime.
Anti-virus
As of June last year, South Africa was one of only 28 countries in the world with a cybersecurity policy in place.
“The system (lab) is suitable for both (small and medium enterprises) and JSE-listed companies. We have developed a system that will cater for different needs of the organisation,” Croock said. He added that the most popular anti-virus and firewall software only protected the companies from 17 percent of cyber threat.
Roi Shaposhnik, the chief executive of Gold n’Links, said companies continually faced new exposures, including first and third-party damage, business interruption and regulatory consequences.
“This is evidenced by the staggering 4.8 billion records exposed as a result of data breaches in the past five years. Not only that, but currently there is a total of $3 trillion recorded loss as a result of cybercrimes worldwide.”
BUSINESS REPORT