According to IBM Security’s annual Cost of Data Breach Report, it shows that the average data breach cost for South African organisations reached R49.5-million in 2023 – an all-time high.
The report shows an 8% increase over the last three years and a 73% increase since South Africa was added to the report eight years ago, according to TechCentral report.
In 2023, the financial sector suffered the most when it comes to data breaches with a cost of R73 million. The Industrial sector came second highest with R71.4 million and the services sector with R58.8 million.
Cyberattacks were the results of stolen or compromised credentials and phishing scams, which resulted in 145 of the initial attack vectors. 12% of the attacks were through business e-mails and cloud misconfiguration was sitting at 11%.
According to Global organisations studies, South Africa was one of the countries that experienced more than one breach.
“South Africa is the financial centre and economic gateway to the rest of the continent. This knowledge is not exclusive to the business community; cyberattackers are aware of it, too, as the financial sector is the most targeted,” said IBM South Africa GM Ria Pinto.
“Organisations should modernise their perimeter security strategies to enhance protection of their financial data by using zero-trust security solutions, underpinned by AI and automation, to increase their cyber resiliency, manage the risks and comply with strict data privacy policies such as the Protection of Personal Information Act,” Pinto said in a statement.
Artificial intelligence played the biggest role in the speed of breach identification and containment for studies organisations.
Worldwide IBM Security Services GM Chris McCurdy said, “Time is the new currency in cybersecurity, both for the defenders and the attackers. As the report shows, early detection and fast response can significantly reduce the impact of a breach.”
“Security teams must focus on where adversaries are the most successful and concentrate their efforts on stopping them before they achieve their goals. Investments in threat detection and response approaches that accelerate defenders’ speed and efficiency – such as AI and automation – are crucial to shifting this balance.”
