The Department of Trade and Industry Competition’s agency, the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), has become the latest victim of the ever increasing spate of cyberattacks in the country.
On Thursday, the CIPC announced an attempted security breach and the compromise of personal information of clients and CIPC employees, held on their records, had been picked up.
The commission reported that its ICT technicians were alerted, due to extensive firewall and data protection systems in place at the CIPC, to a possible security compromise.
As a result, certain CIPC systems had to be shut down immediately to mitigate any possible damage.
Lungile Dukwana, the CIPC Chief Strategy Executive, said through the diligent efforts of the ICT and information security teams, the compromise was isolated and curtailed, with the relevant systems back up and available for processing.
Dukwana said that unfortunately, certain personal information of clients and CIPC employees was unlawfully accessed and exposed prior to the shutdown.
For this reason, he said, the organisation was appealing to CIPC clients to be vigilant in the monitoring of credit card transactions and to only approve and authorise known and valid transaction requests.
“The extent of the exposure is being investigated and will be communicated as soon as possible. The CIPC recognises the importance of the consistent availability of our systems and the safeguarding of information that is not in the public domain, and is working actively to minimise the impact on CIPC clients and employees.”
He added: “We apologise for any inconvenience caused and assure the public that every reasonable step is taken to ensure that all CIPC systems and platforms are safe and protected from unauthorised and unlawful access.”
The attack on the government entity does not come as a surprise given that cyberattacks are said to have increased in South Africa by a worrying 18.8% between the last quarter of 2022 and first quarter of 2023, according to a report by cyber security company Kaspersky.
Interpol’s African Cyber Threat Assessment Report, also noted that almost 220 million email threats were detected in South Africa during 2021 alone.
A number of key institutions in South Africa have already suffered cyber attacks, including the September 2021 attack on the IT systems of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, as well as a breach of the SANDF’s Orange Cyberdefence during August 2023.
The Star
goitsemang.matlhabe@inl.co.za