No
one can fight cybercrimes in isolation – We need to collaborate, I have said
this many times when addressing cybersecurity experts and others delegates in
every conference or summit I attended. Several countries continue to work on
collaborations and we have witnessed major reforms to the entities fighting
cybercrimes in the US, Singapore, Saudi Arabia among others.
In the name of Collaboration, On Friday 30th
October this year (2015) – The South African government launched the National
Cybersecurity Hub in a bid to fight rising cybercrimes.
The
hub will serve as a central point for collaboration between the industry,
government and civil society on all cybersecurity related incidents in South
Africa, Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services, Honorable Dr.
Siyabonga Cyprian Cwele said at the launch ceremony in Pretoria.
The
information gathered by the hub will be used to monitor cyber-attacks and
provide warnings to stakeholders of emerging threats, serve as information
centre for solutions on how to deal with treats and enable stakeholders to get
updates on the global for preemptive measures to strengthen their systems
against cyber-attacks, Cwele said.
"It
is a centre for collaboration among all stakeholders to empower us to jointly
defend ourselves against the criminal elements that abuse our global resource,
the internet, for attacking us in order to disrupt our activities or to
steal," the minister said.
The
hub will offer its services free to the public.
In
terms of cyber attacks, South Africa has a higher rate than other African
countries. In 2013, the country was number three in the world in phishing
incidences.
"We
learn daily of incidences of internet fraud where the poor are lured to buy
products which appear cheap but are required to deposit funds only to find it
was fake," Cwele said.
The
functions of the hub will be to receive incident reports from stakeholders and
establish clear incident management processes, disseminate information to
stakeholders about threats and attacks as a pre-emptive measure as well as
mitigating procedures against emerging attacks and create an archive of lessons
learnt to ensure ease of access in dealing with future threats and
vulnerabilities, among others.
The
hub will also create platforms to allow parents to share information on how to
manage their children online and also provide links to Internet resources to
assist both children and parents.
For
the very first time in South Africa, the hub will ensure collaboration between
businesses and create a platform for partnership between government and the
private sector on cybersecurity, Cwele said.
"We
need to mobilize all our cyber soldiers to come on board to defend South Africa
and her people. We can beat cyber attacks and disruptions," said Cwele.
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