Cyber crime ‘is a national crisis’

Cyber criminals were threatening the national and financial security, according to a top IT expert who has warned that companies and government departments risk losing billions of rand to hackers.

Beza Belayneh, the chief executive of the South African Centre for Information Security, said this week that the veil of secrecy on hacking needed to be lifted.

“Cyber crime is not just criminal, it is a national crisis,” Belayneh said.

“People might say that this is alarmist or I am being a scaremonger, but unless there is a co-ordinated response to cyber attacks, companies and government departments will continue to lose billions of rand. Eighty percent of cyber crime is committed by organised crime and everybody is vulnerable to attack because the hackers are after two things: money and information,” he said. “Whether you are a private individual or a corporate you are vulnerable.”

SOURCE: iol.co.za