Business’s growing reliance on technology is driving an exponential growth in cybercrime – but companies in both the public and private sectors are not taking the threat seriously enough, says David Loxton, a partner at law firm Dentons SA in Johannesburg, specialising in corporate investigations and compliance. ‘Technology drives the world, which means business and government need to invest not only in systems but also in the capabilities to keep those systems safe from increasingly sophisticated and well-funded criminal syndicates,’ Loxton says.

‘By and large, corporate SA is not making the investment needed, so it is vulnerable. When clients consult me about fraud, cybercrime (and their vulnerability to it) is the common denominator.’ Although cybercrime is often unreported, research shows it is growing alarmingly. Figures from Symantec, a leading software security company, indicate that in 2015 more than 500m personal records were stolen or lost, phishing attacks targeting employees increased by 55% while the use of ransomware increased by 35%. SA suffered the most cyberattacks on the African continent in 2014, with losses estimated to be in the region of R50bn, according to Norton, Symantec’s parent company.