South Africa’s police service doesn’t have the capacity to adequately tackle cybercrime in the country, according to Brigadier Piet Pieterse, head of the SAPS electronic crime unit.
Cybercrime in South Africa has increased drastically, costing 0.14 percent of GDP or around R5.8 billion between 2013 and 2014, according to McAfee’s Global Cost of Cybercrime Report.
Tackling this threat to our country needs a collaborative approach between the public and private sector armed with the right technology and public education, says Pieterse.
Speaking at the Mimecast Human Firewall conference, Pieterse emphasised that government is aware of its shortcomings and cybercrime is part of law enforcements strategic plan.
“But tackling cybercrime is extremely challenging for the SAPS because our capacity is limited and fragmented, and our efforts are currently not effectively coordinated,” Pieterse said.
While the local law enforcement model aligns with best practices, it needs to be drastically enhanced and urgently operationalised, he added.
In response to this, government has recognised the need to partner its law enforcement with private cyber security companies, such as Mimecast.
“We are forming strong stakeholder partnerships both locally and with other countries in Africa because we need to work together,” Pieterse added.
Since the cybercrime landscape is constantly changing, a highly focused approach is needed and the SAPS has begun working on increasing the capacity of its electronic crimes unit.
“We will remain vulnerable due to a shortage of skilled investigators, so we are focusing on our awareness campaign and building added capacity in our organization,” he added.
Capacity building takes time, though, since basic cybercrime training needs to be supplemented with practical experience, and it takes about 5 years to produce a skilled investigator.
In addition to capacity building, Pieterse emphasises that educating general law enforcement is essential so that data isn’t lost at the scene during investigations.
Basic training for policemen at the SAPS stations is also essential so that cybercrime reports will be handled better, and the correct department will be immediately engaged.
“But the future is online operational investigations, with a proper online reporting mechanism for cybercrime. It is difficult to report cybercrime at a police station.”
Until the online reporting system is implemented, reporting you can report cybercrime to the SAPS Crime Stop by calling 08600 10 111.
Prevention should be your first line of defense, and Mimecast offers strong security technologies, using an adaptive approach to essentially shut down email as a vector of attack.
Mimecast’s enhanced Targeted ThreatProtection teaches people why links are malicious when they click on them, by alerting them to the URL which may look legitimate, but isn’t.
