Preparing for the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Recommendations to Adapt Cyber Security Governance and Skills in South Africa

Abstract:

As the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is unfolding in the society around us, gaps and opportunities are revealed in terms of cyber security governance and policy responses. Therefore, within this article, the shortcomings of cyber security implementation in South Africa are identified and recommendations are made in terms of cyber security governance, policy, education, and awareness. In terms of governance, the maturity of South Africa’s implementation systems is analyzed using the international metric systems. It is argued that, although strides have been made in terms of cyber security legislation and policy in South Africa, more agile governance is needed. With the increasing dependency on data in the 4IR, proactive measures to train cyber security professionals are needed to protect citizens. The authors warn about the skills gap in terms of cyber education in South Africa. They argue that in training cyber security specialists, curricula not only require the inclusion of more technical skills, but also soft skills—such as communication, writing, and leadership.


AUTHORS

Photo of Professor Joey Jansen van Vuuren (PhD)

Tshwane University of Technology Pretoria,
South Africa

Prof. Joey Jansen van Vuuren heads the Computer Science Department at Tshwane University of Technology and is the Vice Chair of IFIP (Federation for Information Processing) Working Group 9.10. Her research focus on cybersecurity, education, government, and policy. She was the coordinator of the South African Cybersecurity Centre of Innovation for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) that initiated several cybersecurity government initiatives in South Africa.

Photo of Anna-Marie Jansen van Vuuren

Department of Visual Communication Tshwane University of Technology Pretoria West,
South Africa

Anna-Marie Jansen van Vuuren is a screenwriting lecturer within the film programme of the Department of Visual Communication at the Faculty of Arts and Design, Tshwane University of Technology. Her current research includes the history of contemporary South African cinema. Her work has been published in journals such as Journal of African Cinemas, Communicatio, as well as in international conference proceedings.

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Keywords

A

AI
APT

C

C2
C2S
CDX
CIA
CIP
CPS

D

DNS
DoD
DoS

I

IA
ICS

M

S

SOA

X

XRY

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