Moving SA's public sector securely into the cloud

We need to protect our critical services

- Brynn Gerson

South Africa's public sector is embracing digital transformation at an increasing pace.

Over the past 20 years, the government has sought to leverage technology to enhance government processes, making them more efficient and accessible to South Africans.

This has evolved from e-government initiatives to plans that include the digitisation of government services to an extent that provides for internal systems that govern workflow processes - from digitised health and identity records, online booking of vehicle registration, social grant systems, etc.

However, the more we connect these critical services to the internet, the more vulnerable they become to cyberattacks.

According to cybersecurity company ESET Research's biannual threat report, South Africa ranked number one in Africa for ransomware and infostealer attacks in the second half of 2024.