Cape Town – As the holiday season approaches cyber security experts fear that cybercrime activities such as identity theft and confidential data leakage will increase.

A new report has found that in South Africa, 20% of companies have no cyber security plans for holidays or weekends when most attacks happen.

The report found most security professionals expressed high concern about imminent ransomware attacks, yet nearly half felt they did not have the right tools to manage it.

“The lack of preparedness for ransomware attacks on weekends and holidays has a significant impact on victim organisations. In South Africa, 38% said it would take longer to stop if the attack took place on a weekend or holiday,” the report said.

During the launch of Cybersmart South African, a digital platform to bring greater awareness of the issue and how it affects all levels of South African society, South Africa’s Interpol ambassador Andy Mashaile said cybersecurity was a critical part of modern life.

He said there were many traps in cyberspace that were set to lure curious minds into dangerous situations and it was critical that people understood how to protect themselves and their systems when faced with cyber criminals.

“There are adverts, sales and general pictures that we see out there that people are tempted to click on and knowing what not to click on will help a great deal.

“Businesses in our country, and worldwide, don’t know enough about how to protect themselves in cyberspace, but they have started to wake up from the slumber of putting cybersecurity on the back burner,” said Mashaile.

Cybersecurity expert John McLoughlin said that law firms were especially prone to cyber criminals, largely due to the vast amounts of client data, information and money that they retain.

“They don’t always know their networks have been compromised and unfortunately the only time they realise a breach has taken place, significant damage may already have been done.

“More concerning is that they don’t know what to do next once they realise they have been attacked. It is evident that a large number of these attacks are swept under the carpet to protect reputations and in an effort to never accept blame,” said McLoughlin.