Cybercrime costs South Africa R2.2bn a year

South Africa has the third highest number of cybercrime victims globally, and cyber attacks cost the country R2.2bn per year.

To fortify defences and improve safety against cyber attacks, environmental, social and governance (ESG) frameworks by South Africa businesses and organisations are being strengthened by two key pieces of South African legislation: the Cybercrimes Act, 2018 and the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013.

In the past two years, many businesses in South Africa have become victims to cybercrime and cyber attacks. However, The Cybercrimes Act was introduced to combat this increased threat, which came into effect on 1 December 2021.

This new legislation grants law enforcement officers extensive powers to investigate, search, access and seize various things such as computers, databases and networks. It has also created many new offences, mostly relating to data, messages, computers and networks involving hacking, the unlawful interception of data, ransomware attacks, cyber forgery and uttering, as well as cyber extortion.

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