Curbing of cyber crime soon signed into law
Review recently spoke to a representative of Legal Wise Polokwane, Kamagelo Maleka, about cyber crimes.
POLOKWANE – Cyber crimes are rapidly on the rise in South Africa and due to no set laws in place, police are often left unsure of how to handle these crimes or which sentences should be given to offenders.
According to representative of Legal Wise Polokwane, Kamagelo Maleka , one of the main issues of concern was the rapid rate at which cyber crimes are becoming prevalent.
“These crimes do not only affect people in their personal capacity but also companies and even banks and ATM’s,” he said.
He added that the biggest issue that legal representatives face regarding cyber crime is the fact that there is no real stipulation in the law when it comes to the prosecution of cyber crimes which leads to police being unsure of what to do in case of cyber crime.
He added government is currently waiting for approval for the cyber crimes and Cyber Security Bill that will bring South Africa in line with international laws dealing with cyber crime.
“At present, South Africa has no legislation that addresses cyber crime, whether to describe what constitutes a cyber crime, to stipulate how to enforce the law governing cyber crime or to determine appropriate correctional sentencing for those convicted of offences,” he explained.
The bill addresses this loophole by creating a number of structures to deal with threats. These bodies will fall under the auspices of the departments of finance, telecommunications and defense, state security, and defense. Also included in the bill are definitions of offences and details of the penalties to be imposed on cyber criminals.
According to the 2015 Norton Report, South Africa has the third highest number of cyber crime victims worldwide.
While banks have increased their security measures for online platforms, cyber criminals have turned to customers as easy marks for theft.
Criminals will typically pose as banking, retailing or insurance representatives and dangle the prospect of extra cash payments or goods and services to lure victims. Maleka said that in most cases, the elderly are the ones most often caught in these scams.
He added that when it comes to the security ATM’s, an easy hack can give a cyber criminal access to the functions of the ATM and ensure money transfers and even the chance to turn the ATM itself into a skimmer. A skimmer is a machine used to copy information from one card to another.
He said that should malware successfully infect an ATM, it receives almost unlimited capabilities in terms of control over that ATM. It can turn the PIN pad and card reader into a ‘native’ skimmer or just give away all the money stored in the ATM upon a command from its hacker.
The South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) advised residents to be aware of suspicious people near ATM’s and to not ask or accept help from people at ATM’s.
Sabric also advised residents to be wary of different display layouts on ATM screens as it may be an indicator of tampering and to not force cards into ATM slots as they might be compromised.
