National Cybersecurity Implementation in South Africa: The Conundrum Question
Abstract:
The key to a nation’s success is the development of workable strategies, security strategies, and especially a cybersecurity strategy. A problem identified, which this paper addresses, is that there is no visible National Cybersecurity Strategy for South Africa. In contributing to the resolution of this problem, an analysis of the implications of not having a National Cybersecurity Strategy in South Africa is presented in this paper. A combination of the process-based research framework, content analysis, and a subset of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) framework that we label ‘Prevent, Detect, Respond, and Recover’ (PDR2) are used to perform the analysis. The analysis shows the aftermath of implementing the National Cybersecurity Policy Framework without a National Cybersecurity Strategy by pointing out efforts that have not adequately met perceived expectations. The authors believe that some aspects presented in this analysis could be useful as the process of developing a National Cybersecurity Strategy for South Africa unfolds.
AUTHORS
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
Pretoria, South Africa
Dr. Jackie Phahlamohlaka’s research interests are in ICT and socio-economic development, web-based group support systems, and, most recently, broadband access and national security. He is, since 2019, a chief researcher in cybersecurity at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa, where he has been serving as a Competency Area Manager since 2006.
South African Reserve Bank
Pretoria, South Africa
Jacques Théron has been employed as a Cybersecurity Risk Analyst and then as Financial Sector Cybersecurity Resilience Liaison at the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). Before joining SARB, he was an intelligence officer in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) for 30 years.
Directorate Information Warfare South African National Defence Force, Pretoria, South Africa and University of Venda
South Africa
Lieutenant Colonel Michael (Mike) J. Aschmann has been in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) since 1992 and is currently responsible for the Interoperability Development Capability within SANDF. He has a sound experience in operational deployments both internally and externally in Africa, with a wide knowledge in Information and Communication Technology research in the cyber environment.
Published In
Journal of Information Warfare
The definitive publication for the best and latest research and analysis on information warfare, information operations, and cyber crime. Available in traditional hard copy or online.
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