A reassessment of public awareness and legislative framework on cybersecurity in South Africa

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15587/2523-4153.2022.259764

Keywords:

cyberbullying, cybercrime, cybersecurity, cyberwarfare, data breach and protection, legislative framework, public awareness

Abstract

Cybersecurity has become a growing concern globally, following this era of unparalleled resources, power relations and technological evolution. Technological vulnerabilities have led to massive data breaches in recent years and research has highlighted potential uses of artificial intelligence to engineer more powerful cyber-attacks thus revealing new hardware weaknesses. Cyber-attacks pose a threat to critical infrastructure thereby compelling countries to intensify their national security testing for cross-border partnerships. South Africa, however, is lagging in terms of readiness and capacity building against various forms of cyber-attack. Currently, the country has the world’s third-highest number of cybercrime victims. By the same token, there is evidence that the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) loses over R2.2bn annually to cyber-attacks. In October 2019, two seemingly separate syndicates of hackers threatened to close the finance and local government sectors at a time when South Africa was struggling to recover from its previous economic recession. Taking insights from the existing literature, the study demonstrates that the level of awareness of cybersecurity among the South African populace is very poor, while the legislations put in place have done little to alleviate the trends and shield the general population from cyberwarfare. With growing legislation focussing on cybersecurity, the study contends that there is also the need for diverse professional and academic institutes to deliver hands-on educative services to the society through research-led activities to ensure South Africa is resilient to the growing threats. Given the borderless nature of cybercrime, South Africa should start intensifying efforts to incorporate the Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce (J-CAT) alongside the local laws and necessitate the establishment of police-oriented learning centres, where citizens can be educated on the dangers of cybercrime and its devastated impacts on national development. With the drive towards digital economy and advanced global technologies, there is the need for further consolidation of South Africa’s cybersecurity system with a view to ensuring the safety and security of national infrastructure, society, and global economic relations from malicious online crime spree. Until these are done, the storm is not yet over

Author Biography

Sogo Angel Olofinbiyi, University of Venda

PhD

Department of Criminal Justice

School of Law

References

  1. The Global Risk Report (2019). Insight Report. World Economic Forum in partnership with Marsh & McLennan Companies and Zurich Insurance Group. Available at: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Global_Risks_Report_2019.pdf Last accessed: 03.10.2020
  2. Oforji, J. C., Udensi, E. J., Ibegbu, K. C. (2017). Cybersecurity Challenges in Nigeria: The Way Forward. Sos Poly Journal of Science & Agriculture, 2.
  3. Makeri, Y.A., (2017). Cyber Security Issues in Nigeria and Challenges. International Journal of Advanced Resaerch in Computer Science and Software Engineering, 7 (4), 315–321. doi: https://doi.org/10.23956/ijarcsse/v6i12/01204
  4. Nakata, K. (2019). Global threat intelligence report. NTT Security. Available at: https://www.nttsecurity.com/docs/librariesprovider3/resources/2019gtir/2019_gtir_report_2019_uea_v2.pdf Last accessed: 8 November 2021).
  5. Brende, B. (2019). Preface. The Global Risk Report. World Economic Forum in partnership with Marsh & McLennan Companies and Zurich Insurance Group, 5. Available at http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Global_Risks_Report_2019.pdf Last accessed: 01.062022
  6. Lucas A. (2017). ‘How prepared is Nigeria for cyber-attacks?’ The Nation. Available at: https://thenationonlineng.net/prepared-nigeria-cyber-attacks/
  7. Privacy and Intrusion in the Global Village: Eset Cybersecurity Experts (2019). Cybersecurity Trends Report. Available at: https://cdn1.esetstatic.com/ESET/US/resources/white-papers/Cybersecurity_Trends_2019_Final.pdf Last accessed: 03.04.2021
  8. The Global threat intelligence report (2019). NTT Security. Available at: https://www.nttsecurity.com/docs/librariesprovider3/resources/2019gtir/2019_gtir_report_2019_uea_v2.pdf Last accessed: 11.11.2020
  9. Symantec Internet Security Threat Report (2019). Symantec. Volume 24. Available at: https://www.symantec.com/content/dam/symantec/docs/reports/istr-24-2019-en.pdf Last accessed: 11.11.2020
  10. Bayern, M. (2019). 71 % of organizations view quantum computing as dangerous. Tech Republic. Available at: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/71-of-organizations-view-quantum-computing-as-dangerous/ Last accessed: 05.06.2022
  11. Arslan, B., Ulker, M., Akleylek, S., Sagiroglu, S. (2018). A study on the use of quantum computers, risk assessment and security problems. 6th International Symposium on Digital Forensic and Security (ISDFS), 1–6. doi: http://doi.org/10.1109/isdfs.2018.8355318
  12. Chigada, J., Madzinga, R. (2021). Cyberattacks and threats during COVID-19: A systematic literature review. SA Journal of Information Management, 23 (1). doi: http://doi.org/10.4102/sajim.v23i1.1277
  13. Khan, N. A., Brohi, S. N, Zaman, N. (2020). Ten deadly cybersecurity threats amid COVID-19 pandemic. IEEE. Berlin. doi: http://doi.org/10.36227/techrxiv.12278792
  14. South African Banks Risk Information Centre (2020). Identity theft viewed.
  15. Impact of COVID-19: The World has changed and so have we (2020). Price Waterhouse Coopers. Available at: https://www.pwc.co.za/en/about-us/integrated-report-2020/impact-of-covid-19.html
  16. Crisanto, J. C., Prenio, J. (2020). Financial crime in times of COVID-19 – AML and cyber resilience measures, bank for international settlements. Available at: https://www.bis.org/fsi/fsibriefs7.htm
  17. What is Cybersecurity? (2017). Cyberpedia Available at: https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/cyberpedia/what-is-cyber-security Last accessed: 04.02.2022
  18. Olofinbiyi, S. A. (2022). Cyber insecurity in the wake of COVID-19: a reappraisal of impacts and global experience within the context of routine activity theory. ScienceRise: Juridical Science, 1 (19), 37–45. doi: http://doi.org/10.15587/2523-4153.2022.253820
  19. Olofinbiyi, S. A., Singh, S. B. (2020). The role and place of COVID-19: An opportunistic avenue for exponential world’s upsurge in cybercrime. International Journal of Criminology & Sociology, 9 (11), 221–230.
  20. Hubbard, J. (2019). ‘SA business underplaying the danger of cybercrime?’ Finweek. Available at: https://www.fin24.com/Finweek/Business-and-economy/sa-business-underplaying-the-danger-of-cybercrime-20190313 Last accessed: 01.10.2021
  21. SABRIC Annual Crime STATS, (2018). The South African Banking Risk Information Centre. Available at https://www.sabric.co.za/media-and-news/press-releases/sabric-annual-crime-stats-2018/ Last accessed: 04.11.2021
  22. Cyber-Crime and South Africa. (2019). Rick Crouch and Associates, private investigators. Available at http://rickcrouch.co.za/wp/cyber-crime-and-south-africa/ Last accessed: 02.12.2020
  23. Thompson, M. (2016). In a world of fake news, real journalism must be paid for. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/16/fake-news-journalism-digital Last accessed: 01 October 2021
  24. Head, T. (2019). SA banks targeted by “cyber-attack” – here’s how it affects us. The South African. Available at: https://www.thesouthafrican.com/business-finance/banks-cyber-attack-friday-25-october-can-i-use-my-card/ Last accessed: 01.11.2020
  25. SA banks hit by ransom attacks (2019). Fin24. Available at: https://www.fin24.com/Companies/Financial-Services/sa-banks-hit-by-ransom-attacks-minor-disruptions-expected-20191025 Last accessed: 02.11.2019
  26. Smillie, S. (2019). Hackers give City of Joburg, banks until Monday to pay ‘ransom. IOL News Available at: https://www.iol.co.za/saturday-star/news/hackers-give-city-of-joburg-banks-until-monday-to-pay-ransom-35957235 Last accessed: 05.052022
  27. City of Joburg shuts down all systems after cyber-attack demanding bitcoin ransom, (2019). News24. Available at: https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/city-of-joburg-shuts-down-all-systems-after-cyber-attack-demanding-bitcoin-ransom-20191025 Last accessed: 03.05.2022
  28. Daniel, E. (2019). South Africa’s state-owned power company Eskom hit by double security breach. Verdict. Available at: https://www.verdict.co.uk/eskom-cybersecurity-breach/ Last accessed: 01.162022
  29. Whitty, M. T., Buchanan, T. (2012). The online romance scam: A serious cybercrime. CyberPsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 15 (3), 181–183. doi: http://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2011.0352
  30. Bulbulia, Z., Maharaj, M. (2013). Factors that influence young adults’ online security awareness in the Durban in South Africa. Journal of Information Warfare, 12 (1), 83–96.
  31. HAWKS (2015). Workshop for Policy Design towards Digital Security, Cybercrime and Cybercrime Prevention. Electronic Crime Unit of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation in South Africa. Held at Emperors Palace. Available at: http://www.nstf.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/BrigPieterse.pdf Last accessed: 07.11.2019
  32. The National Cybersecurity Policy Framework (NCPF, 2015). Available at: http://www.gpwonline.co.za/ Last accessed: 05.06.2022
  33. Electronic Communications and Transactions Act (No. 25 of 2002). Available at: https://cisp.cachefly.net/assets/articles/attachments/00068_electroniccommunications.pdf
  34. Cybercrimes Act 19 of 2020. Available at: https://www.gov.za/documents/cybercrimes-act-19-2020-1-jun-2021-0000 Last accessed: 01.06.2022
  35. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA, 2021): Cybersecurity Awareness Month Theme and Schedule. Available at: https://www.cisa.gov/cybersecurity-awareness-month Last accessed: 04.06.2022

Downloads

Published

2022-06-28

How to Cite

Olofinbiyi, S. A. (2022). A reassessment of public awareness and legislative framework on cybersecurity in South Africa. ScienceRise: Juridical Science, (2(20), 34–42. https://doi.org/10.15587/2523-4153.2022.259764

Issue

No. 2(20) (2022)

Section

Juridical Science

License

Copyright (c) 2022 Sogo Angel Olofinbiyi

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Our journal abides by the Creative Commons CC BY copyright rights and permissions for open access journals.

Authors, who are published in this journal, agree to the following conditions:

1. The authors reserve the right to authorship of the work and pass the first publication right of this work to the journal under the terms of a Creative Commons CC BY, which allows others to freely distribute the published research with the obligatory reference to the authors of the original work and the first publication of the work in this journal.

 2. The authors have the right to conclude separate supplement agreements that relate to non-exclusive work distribution in the form in which it has been published by the journal (for example, to upload the work to the online storage of the journal or publish it as part of a monograph), provided that the reference to the first publication of the work in this journal is included.