70 out of 100 South Africans hit by data breaches

70 out of 100 South Africans hit by data breaches

The biggest cyber security weaknesses are not always complex vulnerabilities, but rather a fundamental lack of visibility. (Image source: 123RF) Surfshark’s quarterly analysis of global data breaches shows South Africa ranks as the 42nd most breached country in Q1 2026. Globally, a total of 210.3 million accounts were breached, with the US ranking first at…

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Why it’s time to stop blaming staff for breaches

Why it’s time to stop blaming staff for breaches

Security awareness training has become one of the most consistent line items in corporate budgets. Most companies run it quarterly and employees click through it, answer the questions and collect their certificates. And yet, the breaches keep coming and the post-incident reports point to the exact same thing: human error. In a recent Forrester’s security…

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Global breaches, local rules – the first keynote for SS26 in Cape Town revealed

Global breaches, local rules – the first keynote for SS26 in Cape Town revealed

Sunitha Chalam. Contrasting the growth of international cyber breaches with the sharpening of local regulations, Sunitha Chalam will deliver an informative and thought-provoking presentation on this topic as her keynote address at the Cape Town leg of the 2026 ITWeb Security Summit. A specialist in crisis communications and management, Chalam’s presentation: ‘Global breaches, local rules:…

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InfoReg exposes POPIA violators as data breaches mount

InfoReg exposes POPIA violators as data breaches mount

In the 2024/25 financial year, 2 374 data breaches were reported to the Information Regulator. Data breaches are on the rise in South Africa, with the Information Regulator reporting a sharp increase in incident notifications. This emerged yesterday at a media briefing by advocate Pansy Tlakula, chairperson of the Information Regulator. Tlakula presented the high-level…

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Firms under-report POPIA breaches as cyber attacks rise

Firms under-report POPIA breaches as cyber attacks rise

As cyber attacks continually rise, the Information Regulator says it needs more staff. As cyber attacks escalate and companies fail to report hacks under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), the Information Regulator does not have sufficient staff to enforce the law. Mukelani Dimba, executive for education and communication at the Information Regulator, tells…

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