Africa's cyber threat landscape is growing, and more businesses realise the need to establish security operations centres (SOCs) as an invaluable component of their defence arsenal.
David Behr, CEO of Liquid C2, says businesses need to consider investing in a Cyber Security Fusion Centre (CSFS), which provides a comprehensive, integrated multi-disciplinary solution that offers customers cyber protection 24/7/365. Criminals don't rest, and neither should companies.
Behr is scheduled to present a keynote address focused on the role of CSFSs in user security at the 2023 ITWeb Security Summit, to be held on 6 - 8 June in Johannesburg.
In an interview leading up to the event, Liquid C2 execa cite the ITU Global Cybersecurity Index (2021), which indicates that global cyber-attacks increased by 38% in 2022 compared to 2021.
The nature of the cyber security threat landscape is also changing and now includes hacktivists, cybercriminals, malicious insiders, cyber warfare, espionage and terrorism.
Behr will use the Summit's platform to discuss these and other statistics, all of which confirm the prevalence of threats like business email compromise, crimeware-as-a-service, phishing and ransomware.
Africa is also under threat from banking Trojans and stealers, online scams and cyber extortion.
Behr adds that crimeware-as-a-service is a particularly interesting phenomenon in cyber security. It refers to criminal syndicates that hire candidates and provide them with the software, technical resources and equipment to enable them to commit cyber extortion and other cyber crimes. It is run in a similar manner to any legitimate 'as-a-service' business model, but its intentions are far from legal.
Behr says cyber extortion is also becoming a major problem and can have devastating consequences for businesses and private users.
As more people go online without knowledge and understanding of basic security measures, they fall victim to extortionists who threaten to expose their private information, banking or financial details and other sensitive data.
"It's a lot more targeted than ransomware, and there is an emotional element to this as well. In some cases, it can have a real and lasting impact on people's lives," says Behr.
Cyber Security Fusion Centre (CSFS)
With all these threats in mind, Liquid C2 advocates CSFC services and says there are many benefits, including constant protection, rapid response, threat intelligence and prevention, compliance and improved business reputation, all designed to cater to the specific needs of businesses.
"Attackers leveraging automation to come at you 24/7, so you must respond in kind with automation. But the engine to drive that automated response is a SOC."
Liquid C2 believes the CSFC is a massively important part of the entire end-to-end cyber security protection strategy. The company underlines the importance of alliances with fully equipped, experienced and technically proficient cyber security services partners.
There is the option to go solo in terms of rolling out a security programme, but as Behr highlights, there are challenges, including huge investment in CISO and skilled security resources, and it's virtually impossible to purchase, implement, and maintain dozens of controls required for an in-depth defence programme.
"Leveraging a trusted security partner provides as-is security assessment and strategic review to give clear direction on security budget, priority and focus. The cost to implement and run CSFC for 24/7/365 monitoring is dramatically reduced by using a shared resource model."
Since the launch of the first advanced CSFC by Liquid C2 in South Africa, the organisation has launched two more in Kenya and Zambia, with plans of establishing additional centres in Zimbabwe, Egypt and Nigeria.
These centres represent the company's dedicated resource and strategy to help customers predict, prevent, detect and respond to threats.
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