TCS+ | Boards are underestimating the cost of a cyberattack, says Arctic Wolf

In this episode of TCS+, brought to you by Arctic Wolf, Jason Oehley, the company’s country sales manager, and Andre Den Hond, senior systems engineer, talk about why South Africa is bearing the brunt of ransomware in Africa and what businesses can do about it.

The pair unpack an Interpol report that found 92% of ransomware detections on the continent are in South Africa. Oehley explains that the country’s high connectivity, big financial services sector and large mid-market are part of the reason, along with a tactical rather than proactive approach to security.

Den Hond explains how agentic AI systems can automate the attack chain, adapt when an exploit fails and never tire, putting small and medium-sized enterprises squarely in the crosshairs.

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The pair also explain why the time between a vulnerability being identified and exploited has collapsed, why attackers are increasingly stealing data rather than encrypting it and why cyber insurance often doesn’t cover the costs that hurt most.

Other points discussed include:

• Why SMEs that supply bigger companies are a back door for attackers, including the recent breach of a group of South African insurers;
• The hidden costs of a breach, including downtime averaging 22 days, lost income, idle payroll and reputational damage;
• A customer that put off a security purchase because of the cost and was hit months later for much more;
• How to measure the financial impact of cyber risk, and why the return-on-investment argument matters at board level;
• Proactive versus reactive security, and why there is no silver bullet;
• Whether South Africa’s regulators are keeping up, and the prospect of directors’ liability; and
• Why building a 24/7 security operations centre in-house rarely makes financial sense

Don’t miss this practical conversation about turning cyber risk into terms that decision-makers understand.

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