Pretoria – South Africans will now be able to defend themselves against cyber-attacks, thanks to the Cybersecurity Hub launched at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria.
Telecommunications and Postal Services Minister Dr Siyabonga Cwele on Friday unveiled the Cybersecurity Hub, which will serve as a central point for collaboration between industry, government and civil society on all cybersecurity related incidents in South Africa.
The hub emanates from the 2012 Cybersecurity Policy Framework as a platform to assist the public and business organisations with the safe use of the internet.
It will become a point of reference for citizens in as far as cybersecurity issues are concerned, providing a repository of information regarding the do's and don'ts of internet for children.
It will also become the best practice guide for parenting on the internet and how average South Africans can protect themselves against malicious attacks, identity theft and online financial security.
The information gathered by the hub will be used to monitor cyber-attacks and provide warnings to stakeholders of immerging threats.
The hub will serve as an information centre for solutions on how to deal with threats and enable stakeholders to get updates on pre-emptive measures to strengthen their systems against cyber-attacks.
The functions of the hub also include:
- Receiving incident reports from stakeholders and establishing clear incident management processes;
- Disseminating information to stakeholders about threats and attacks as a pre-emptive measure as well as mitigating procedures against emerging attacks;
- Creating an archive of lessons learnt to ensure ease of access in dealing with future threats and vulnerabilities, and
- Chairing scheduled meetings to report and track attacks and incidents.
Minister Cwele said with the establishment of the hub, South Africa will soon be on par with the most developed nations of the world.
“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.
“We are a caring government that believes in our collective strength. That is why the National Cybersecurity Hub will offer its services free to the public,” said Minister Cwele.
The Minister also emphasised the need to mobilise all cyber soldiers to come on board to defend the country and its people.
“Cyber-attacks are real and no single individual or company can afford to singlehandedly defend him or herself against hackers and havoc-wreakers. We can beat cyber-attacks and disruptions.
“We need to mobilise our resources to train and equip our cyber soldiers with high-end skills and technology to defend our nation. As government, we will play our part in identifying young, talented South Africans to join this cyber army. We call on our industry to do the same,” said Minister Cwele. – SAnews.gov.za
