Friday, November 14, 2008

South Africa prioritises cyber security

South Africa seems to be waking up nicely to the threat of cyber crime. Roy Padayachie, Deputy communications minister, spoke at a high-level security conference in Geneva recently about our commitment locally.

“Clearly an effective cyber security framework is not merely a matter of government or law enforcement practices, but has to be addressed through prevention supported by society,” he said.

He also made mention of a very important fact – that security should not be left to technology alone. “Therefore,” he stated, “priority must be given to cyber security planning and management throughout society.”

According to his speech, South Africa intends to strengthen collaboration and partnerships at the national level through the establishment of a government-industry collaboration forum.

He said “Cyber threats or attacks do not recognise borders or laws; therefore, governments, business and civil society globally should work together to protect and secure their national cyber space and critical infrastructure. Governments throughout the world are not able to deal with the emerging threat on their own.”

This is great news for the country. As the 2010 World Cup draws eerily near, South Africa can expect to become a very lucrative target for cyber criminals, and it is best to have as many security measures in place as soon as possible. The many attacks populated near, during and after this year’s Olympics are a perfect example of how criminals take advantage of world events.

More on Padayachi’s speech can be found on ITWeb.

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