Sassa grant reminder: These are the early payment dates for December

The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) grants for December are to be paid out next week.

The agency distributes permanent social grants to over 27 million people in the country every month.

Sassa provided some early festive cheer for beneficiaries of the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant by processing payments before the festive public holidays. Payments of the R370 grant are generally made at the end of every month from the 25th.

Here are the payout dates for December

Sassa grant payment dates for December 2024

• Older Persons Grant – Wednesday, 3 December 2024
• Disability Grant – Thursday, 4 December 2024
• Children’s Grants – Friday, 5 December 2024

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Sassa grant amounts:

• Older Persons Grant – R2 190
• Older Persons (75 years and older) – R2 210
• Disability Grant – R2 190
• War Veterans Grant – R2 210
• Care Dependency Grant – R2 190
• Foster Care Grant – R1 180
• Child Support Grant (Top-Up) – R530 + R250
• SRD Grant – R370

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Number of Sassa recipients (by August 2024):

• Care Dependency Grant: 163 572
• Disability Grant: 1 063 039
• Child Support Grant: 13 204 540
• Foster Care Grant: 265 381
• Grant-In-Aid: 453 648
• Old Age Grant: 4 095 185
• War Veteran’s Grant: 9
• SRD: 8 146 854

Cyber attacks: Sassa SRD grant beneficiaries details may not be safe

Investigations by the Department of Social Development unveiled alarming security vulnerabilities following the digital issues about the SRD system raised by two Stellenbosch students.

Investigative firm Masegare & Associates Incorporated revealed its findings in Parliament on Wednesday. These included critical security gaps that could expose sensitive data to potential cyber-attacks.

It was found that the Sassa online system currently does not have encryption for sensitive data such as IDs, permits, or banking details.

Several serious flaws were discovered during a subsequent system evaluation, including insufficient data encryption, incorrect server setups, poor authentication procedures, and missing security headers.

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In addition, system flaws were discovered in the areas of exposed system directories, numerous apps per mobile number, and login security, where the “login page is vulnerable to automated attacks where hackers can repeatedly guess passwords to access sensitive accounts.”

“The medium threat level classification indicates that while the system is not at high risk, there are still important vulnerabilities that need to be addressed to ensure its security,” explained Masegare & Associates’ Stanley Matshote.

Matshote stated that these vulnerabilities, even though they were categorised as medium risk, presented a considerable danger of unauthorised access to information, system interruptions, and non-compliance with data protection regulations.

The investigation found that several security issues include system setups that permit unauthorised access and login pages that are susceptible to automated assaults.

Additionally, weak content security policies, exposed system directories, and unprotected backup files were some of the loopholes.

Additional reporting by Enkosi Selane and Cornelia Le Roux.

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