Justice department suffers another cyber attack ITWeb

pThe Department of Justice and Constitutional Development DJCD has suffered a cyber security incident affecting child maintenance paymentsppIn a statement yesterday the department advised the public its electronic payment system for thirdparty funds including child maintenance has been temporarily suspended following attempts to compromise the systemppAccording to the department an investigation is under way to assess potential breaches to the systemppIn light of this development child maintenance beneficiaries are urged to promptly visit their nearest court with their original identity documents to receive manual payments until the electronic service is fully restored reads the statementppThe department says it has assembled a forensic team to thoroughly investigate any suspicious activity ppWe are committed to continually fortifying our systems to prevent and mitigate the risk of future breaches We sincerely apologise to all beneficiaries for any inconvenience caused and deeply appreciate the patience and understanding during this periodppIn 2021 the government entity was hit by a ransomware attack that led to all information systems being encrypted and unavailable to internal employees as well as members of the publicppAs a result all electronic services provided by the department were affected including the issuing of letters of authority bail services email and its websiteppFollowing the attack the department said it planned to invest a portion of its 20222023 budget to strengthen its cyber security to avoid another cyber attack on its IT systemsppThe ransomware attack resulted in the Information Regulator slapping the department with a R5 million fine for breaching South Africas data privacy law the Protection of Personal Information Act POPIA ppAt least 1 200 files containing the names banking details and contact details of those who had submitted personal information to the DoJCD were compromised during the ransomware attackppThe attack also spilled over to the office of the Information Regulator disrupting the watchdogs IT systems This resulted in the regulators website being unavailable for three days while the email system went offlineppThe regulator said it issued the enforcement notice following the finding of the contravention of various sections of POPIA by the DOJCDppThe enforcement notice had required the DoJCD to submit proof to the regulator within 31 days of receipt of the notice that the Trend AntiVirus licence the SIEM licence and the intrusion detection system licence have been renewedppIt also required the department to institute disciplinary proceedings against the officials who failed to renew the licences which are necessary to safeguard the department against security compromisesppSouth African organisations especially government entities are increasingly being targeted by cyber criminalsppThe Council for Scientific and Industrial Research estimates financial losses of up to R22 billion per annum to the South African economy as a result of cyber crimeppLast month the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa fell victim to a cyber attackppIn March the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission CIPC reported an attempted security breach that exposed the personal information of employees and clientsppThe CIPC is an agency of the Department of Trade Industry and Competition in SA It is responsible for the registration of companies cooperatives and intellectual property rights trademarks patents designs and copyright and maintenance thereofppThe Government Employees Pension Fund Africas largest pension fund with more than 12 million active members in excess of 450 000 pensioners and beneficiaries and assets worth more than R161 trillion was also recently targeted by cyber criminalsppInformation Regulator chairperson advocate Pansy Tlakula previously stated that data breaches were rising at an alarming rate with the information watchdog receiving more than 150 data breach notifications a month ppSharepp ITWeb proudly displays the FAIR stamp of the Press Council of South Africa indicating our commitment to adhere to the Code of Ethics for Print and online media which prescribes that our reportage is truthful accurate and fair Should you wish to lodge a complaint about our news coverage please lodge a complaint on the Press Councils website wwwpresscouncilorgza or email the complaint to enquiriesombudsmanorgza Contact the Press Council on 011 4843612p