According to the global Cyber Exposure Index, South Africa currently has the sixth highest average exposure to cybercrime, with businesses in the industrial and financial sectors being the most commonly targeted by cybercrime attacks. In fact, a global report by the Ponemon Institute has revealed that around 61% of small businesses experienced a cyber-attack in 2017.
Cybercrime has become the top risk for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The SHA Cyber Security survey found that 42.5% of businesses do not have adequate anti-cyber-attack procedures in place. It found that around 60% of SMEs impacted suffered a financial loss of between R50 000 and R1million. It’s also been reported that up to 60% of SMEs never recover after a significant cyber breach.
Many SMEs still don’t realise the importance of proactively managing their cyber risks. The SHA Cyber Security survey shows that around 52% of brokers are still finding it difficult to sell cyber insurance policies to their clients. This indicates that more than half of business owners are still not taking adequate steps to protect their organisations.READ MORE