Various annual reports and research have recently highlighted cyber-attacks as the number one global risk for companies. A media release by Mimecast towards the end of 2019 indicated that four major cyber-attack campaigns were detected in South Africa between July and September. The systems of several financial services companies suffered the brunt of the impact of these attacks.
Just two days ago the Kaspersky security researchers reported on thousands of notifications of attacks on major banks located in the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region. According to Kaspersky, the malware used in the attacks indicates that the threat actors are most likely to be an infamous Silence hacking group from Russia, previously known to be responsible for the theft of millions of dollars from banks across the world.
SABRIC, the South African Banking Risk Information Centre noted that they were aware of the Kaspersky media statement entitled ‘Silence before the storm: Russian speaking hacking group is attacking banks in Sub-Saharan Africa’. There has been no impact on our Banks to date and it is business as usual as all banking services are operating normally. Nevertheless, the Banking Industry takes cybersecurity very seriously and has robust risk mitigation strategies in place. Because banks, as the custodians of money, are continuously under attack globally, these strategies are agile and are reviewed as new threats are identified.
“The banking industry collaborates by sharing information to ensure that our cyber resilience is continually strengthened. We will continue to monitor this situation very closely as an industry,“ says SABRIC acting CEO, Susan Potgieter.
Click here to read the Kaspersky news release.
