An Analysis of Cyber-Incidents in South Africa
Date
2017-12-23
Authors
Van Niekerk, Brett
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Abstract
Cybersecurity concerns are present in all nations, but the exact nature of the threats
differs depending on the country and/or region. Therefore there is a need to assess
the threats and impacts for specific countries. This article presents a high-level
analysis of “newsworthy” cyber-incidents that affected South Africa. The 54 incidents
that are considered are categorised according to impact type, perpetrator type, and
victim type, and the trends are assessed. It was found that the most common impact
type was data exposure, which was also one that had increased noticeably in recent
years. The most prevalent perpetrator type was found to be hacktivists, which had
also exhibited a recent increase in activity. A particularly concerning trend was the
recent high number of incidents of data exposure caused by error, a trend running
contrary to the drive to improve cybersecurity. It was also found that of the incidents
considered, 54% targeted state-owned or political entities as victims. In general, the
results appeared consistent with global reported trends.
Description
Keywords
advanced persistent threat, data breach, defacement, distributed denial of service, financial theft, system penetration
Citation
Van Niekerk, B. (2017). An analysis of cyber-incidents in South Africa. The African Journal of Information and Communication (AJIC), 20, 113-132.
https://doi.org/10.23962/10539/23573