These SA firms at highest risk of cyber attack

Nedbank, Telkom, Discovery and Investec are among the top South African listed companies with the most exposure to cybersecurity risks.

This is according to a new research report from the Cyber Intelligence Research Group, the results of which were released yesterday at CyberCon, a cybersecurity conference in Johannesburg.

The Cyber Exposure Index (CEI) aggregates data that is publicly available through the dark and deep Web, or as the result of third-party data breaches.

This data is used to identify top listed companies’ vulnerability to hacker group activity, disclosed sensitive information and leaked credentials.

Companies are then scored from 0-5, where 0 indicates no exposure and 5 places a company among the 1% of firms with the most exposure.

While no South African company scored a 5, many household names – from Sasol to Liberty Holdings and from Woolworths to Anglo American – scored a worrying 4.

In the ICT sector, those scoring a 4 included Telkom, MTN and EOH. Mix Telematics, Vodacom, Huge Group, Mustek, Adapt IT. Blue Label Telecoms and Naspers all scored 3.

Telecommunications companies have among the highest levels of exposure in South Africa at 13.1%, compared to the global average of 2.4%, according to the researchers.