by MTHULISI SIBANDA
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – IN 2024, the most common type of security incident faced by companies was related to network protection.
This is according to the latest Kaspersky IT Security Economics report that established that 97 percent of businesses in South Africa encountered adversaries attempting to infiltrate their network, while 91 percent of companies reported incidents where bad actors executed malicious code within their network or attempted to communicate with compromised systems and take control.
Large enterprises experienced the highest rate of network security incidents despite having the most comprehensive protection measures in place.
Small and medium-sized companies also faced challenges with network security, with a significant percentage of incidents attributed to the deliberate or inadvertent actions of their own employees.
According to Kaspersky, as more and more data is created, stored, and transmitted electronically, the risk of cyber attacks that could compromise sensitive information also increases.
One of the key factors contributing to the ongoing prevalence of network security issues is the growing complexity of cyber threats.
Furthermore, the rise of remote work and bring your own device (BYOD) policies has created additional challenges for network security.
Human error is another key factor contributing to security incidents, with 57 percent of companies in South Africa reported incidents where their own employees consciously or unconsciously helped adversaries by their action or inaction, with the majority of these occurrences in medium and small businesses, large organisations faced this problem much less often.
– CAJ News