A Deloitte Cyber Intelligence Centre (CIC) has opened in Johannesburg, making South Africa the first African country to host such a hub.

The firm’s worldwide network of CICs aim to make businesses vigilant of cyber attacks and provides companies with 24/7 real-time threat monitoring and cybersecurity services.

South African companies are becoming increasingly exposed to cybercrimes, resulting in huge financial losses and reputational damage. Henry Peens, Associate Director for Cyber Security at Deloitte says the recent coordinated attack on Standard Bank, which saw the company incur a R300 million loss, shows that African businesses are under threat and that the problem of cyber attacks needs to be addressed.

“We are completely underestimating the threat to Africa and South Africa at the moment. The fact that we do not have legislation that forces one to disclose cyber attacks does not mean that cyber attacks don’t happen. There is a massive problem around cyber attacks and cybercrime and I think it is not only the banks that are under threat…”

CICs in Nigeria and Kenya are also scheduled for rollout in the next 24 months.