IBM Security recently indicated that companies who experienced data breaches have to pay R40 million per incident.

Experian South Africa, a consumer credit reporting company, has laid criminal and civil charges against the criminal who stole millions of South Africans’ records after posing as a legitimate client. The request, which appeared to be above board, involved acquiring consumers’ telephone numbers, place of employment, and addresses. No consumers’ financial information was obtained, but these details were obtained for some business entities.

Shocking stats

  • Average length of time to identify a data breach:
    • South Africa: 177 days
    • Globally: 207
  • Average time to contain a data breach:
    • South Africa: 51 days
    • Globally: 73 days
  • Root cause of data breach:
    • Malicious or criminal (48%)
      • 191 days to identify
      • 62 days to contain
    • Human error (26%)
      • 164 days to identify
      • 40 days to contain
    • System glitch (26%)
      • 163 days to identify
      • 44 days to contain
  •  Most common cause of malicious attacks globally: