ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK: City of Joburg hack was an attack waiting to happen
The problem is cybersecurity is still treated as an add-on, rather than a core function
Another week, another cybersecurity disaster in SA. This time, it was the City of Johannesburg's website and services that went down, after hackers exploited a hole in its information security protection.
An entity calling itself Shadow Kill Hackers demanded a ransom payment from the city, failing which it would publish sensitive documents. It was not the first time hackers have brought down a municipal site. In two cases in the US, the local authorities paid the ransom of about half a million dollars each. The demand from the City of Joburg was a "mere" $30,000 (R450,000) worth of bitcoins. To the city's credit, it rejected the demand out of hand...
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