SA got off lightly in the latest cyber-attack — but this is not the end of it
Online security experts have warned that this week’s cyber-attack is "just the beginning".The so-called Petya ransomware attack originated in Ukraine on Tuesday‚ spreading through Europe and across the globe into Wednesday. And while there was minimal impact in SA‚ local online security experts believe the hackers could have been testing the water to see who is vulnerable to future attacks.Ransomware is malicious code embedded by hackers into companies’ or individuals’ computer networks‚ infecting their systems. The code essentially locks the system and only the hacker can unlock it — which they will only do once a ransom is paid.Craig Rosewarne‚ MD of Wolfpack Information Risk‚ said very few South African companies were hit. This was backed up by figures provided by IT security company ESET SA‚ which indicated that only 0.03% of all victims were South African. Most of the victims — 75.24% — were in Ukraine‚ followed by 9.06% in Germany and 5.81% in Poland.It is the second major cyb...
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