Plans are afoot to establish an IT security threat response centre in SA that will be able to react immediately to risks that threaten the IT industry.
Representatives from government and the corporate and private sectors are in talks to establish the response unit, which would be manned by various IT security experts who could respond to threats and spread information that could help with the avoidance of potential risks.
Information Security User Group of Southern Africa (ISGSA) chairman Craig Rosewarne, who is representing the corporate sector in the discussions, says he has been approached by various government and private agencies to establish a response centre.
"Agencies such as the National Intelligence Agency have expressed a need for this initiative," he states.
The ISGSA held its first meeting yesterday, where industry players highlighted the common failure of South African companies to report IT security breaches.
"In California, companies have to, by law, notify their shareholders if their IT security systems have been compromised. However, in SA, companies don`t even know where to go to report new threats, scams or to complain about security issues," Rosewarne says.
"South African organisations are often afraid to say anything if they have been breached, because it`s almost taboo. They fear being left alone in the open, having exposed the fact that their security has been compromised."
Rosewarne argues that the time has come for information about security risks and breaches to be made public, which would help to mitigate risks and better protect IT users.
The response centre, he says, would offer quick response time to threats, and would also serve to disseminate threat-related information, which could protect other users.
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