Small Businesses Can Reduce Cyber Risks With Free Online Resources

6 May 2022

Small and medium-sized enterprises form the jobs generating backbone of the South African economy and yet local SMEs are least likely to survive a cyber attack.

With the average cost of remediating a ransomware attack in SA estimated by cybersecurity firm Sophos to be R6.4m, it’s clear small business owners should focus on prevention rather than the cure.

Fortunately, cost conscious SMEs can access free and easy-to-use online resources to help them beat cybercrime. Foremost amongst these is the content developed by the Global Cyber Alliance in partnership with the British High Commission, the Department of Communications & Digital Technologies and SA’s Cybersecurity Hub.

The Alliance’s free cybersecurity and data protection toolkit is aimed at fortifying SMEs against ransomware, malware, phishing and other growing cyber threats, and is available here:

https://gcatoolkit.org/small-business-dapsa/.

When it comes to the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (‘POPIA’), businesses of all sizes are required to mitigate risk relating to processing and storing personal information. POPIA requires companies to implement reasonable technical and organisational measures in this regard.

The challenges for SMEs are the cost and complexity of compliance. SMEs can, however, easily follow the practical advice offered by the Global Cyber Alliance. This  allows SMEs to access free products from trusted cybersecurity companies. Anyone can implement these resources on any smartphone, tablet or computer with only a little computing knowledge.

The toolkit helps SMEs:

• Discover and assess their devices in pursuit of the ultimate goal of securing them;
• Boost digital immunity with tools that automatically update defences;
• Create stronger passwords and additional layers of protection;
• Protect themselves against malicious attacks with advanced tools to navigate the web safely;
• Learn about applications that offer routine back-ups; and
• Explore tools that protect SMEs’ email systems and brands from being damaged by attackers.

In addition, a library of templates is provided that will support the SME’s journey to POPIA compliance. This includes process documentation and more.

Finally; ISPA, as the Industry Representative Body of some 205 Internet Service Providers, is actively working to promote those members who provide secure hosting and domain name registration services. The following page lists ISPA members who provide different types of DNSSEC support to clients:

https://2026.ispa.org.za/dnssec/secure-domain-providers/

DNSSEC, or the Domain Name System Security Extensions, is a feature of the global Domain Name System (DNS) that prevents cyber attacks through, inter alia, proper authentication.