Cyber security policy in March

The Department of Communications (DOC) will present the National Cyber Security Policy Framework for SA to Cabinet in March.

“Cyber crime threats are global curses of advances in technology. This means that our electronic communications networks must be ultra-secure in order to build confidence amongst the users of e-commerce platforms,” said communications minister Dina Pule this week.

She added that, working with the justice and crime prevention cluster departments, the DOC has made significant progress towards the development of the policy framework. “The policy will be presented to Cabinet by March 2012 to enable faster implementation by all relevant parties.”

Pule also said the DOC will host the country's first International ICT Indaba in June.

“This premier event will bring international guests into our country from Africa and the rest of the world. Working in partnership with the ICT industry, we will set the agenda of ICT for development whilst encouraging trade and investment in our country.”

The minister said, in connection with this, the department will host a national policy colloquium in March. The colloquium will introduce a process towards a comprehensive review of the ICT policy environment.

This comes after industry analysts said the R42 million hacking at the Postbank this month was in part due to the lack of a cyber security policy in SA.

In February 2010, then communications minister, Siphiwe Nyanda, released the department's draft policy on cyber security but the policy has not been finalised over the past two years.

It planned to provide direction for online security in the country, specifically with government backing. One of the key aspects of the policy was the plan to introduce national and sector-based computer security incident response teams.

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