Cyberattacks have been listed as the top threat South African businesses face, according to the Allianz Risk Barometer report for 2018.
Thirty-eight per cent of the responses indicated that cyberattacks are the largest threat a South African business will face. The Allianz Risk Barometer is based on the insight on over 1 900 risk management experts from 80 different countries. The report established that other problems which businesses face include business interruptions as well as climate change and the increasing volatility of weather patterns.
Multiple threats such as data breaches, network liability and hacker attacks make cyberattacks the largest threat, not only in South Africa but in countries around the world. In October last year, more than 30 million South Africans’ personal information was exposed online in what is considered the country’s biggest data breach. The potential for so-called ‘cyber hurricane’ events to occur, where hackers disrupt larger numbers of companies by targeting common infrastructure dependencies, will continue to grow this year.
“South Africa is reported to have the third highest number of cybercrime victims worldwide, losing billions of rands a year to cyberattacks and experiencing more cyberattacks than its African counterparts. Although cyber awareness has significantly increased, particularly among small- and medium-sized businesses, it is more challenging for these enterprises to tackle this issue compared to larger corporations,” said Nobuhle Nkosi, a cyber insurance expert at Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty (AGCS) Africa.
Cyber risk and business interruption have been neck and neck in South Africa for the past three years increasingly demonstrating a strong interlink between the two. “Businesses in South Africa are deeply concerned about the impact of business interruption, which could result from traditional exposures, such as fire, natural disasters and supply chain disruption, to new triggers stemming from digitalisation and interconnectedness that typically come without physical damage, but with high financial loss,” said AGCS Africa CEO Thusang Mahlangu.
Mahlangu added that the breakdown of core IT systems, terrorism or political violence events, product quality incidents or an unexpected regulatory change can bring businesses to a temporary or prolonged standstill with a devastating effect on revenues. He also highlighted that no business is too small to be impacted as a severe interruption could particularly impact smaller companies.
Share your thoughts on cyber threats with us by posting on our Facebook page or emailing our group editor, Daniella Potter, at daniellap@caxton.co.za
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