Cybercrime has cost public works R300m – and counting

New public works and infrastructure minister Dean Macpherson has vowed to tighten financial controls after discovering hackers are emptying the department’s coffers.

He said R300m has been stolen from the department in the past 10 years.

The losses could be higher as investigations continue, he said.

McPherson said the revelation emerged as he and his deputy Sihle Zikalala conducted assessments on the work of the department.

The most recent cyberattack took place in May when R24m was stolen, Macpherson said.

A forensic investigation into the attack has been mounted by the Hawks, the police service, the State Security Agency and experts in the ICT and cybersecurity industry.

“It has become clear the department has been a soft target and playground for cybercriminals over a 10-year period and this should have been picked up a lot earlier. It is clear we need better financial controls, which I have told the department are a matter of urgency.

“We want to put a stop to this immediately because we cannot allow our department to be subjected to unchecked looting. This is money that could have been spent on our infrastructure drive to improve the lives of South Africans. The investigation will be expanded and deepened to find the masterminds and beneficiaries of this grand theft, and I want to see them in prison.”

Before the new administration, also in May, the department announced it had ordered a forensic probe into “vulnerabilities in the department’s information and technology systems”.

The department said it had identified cybersecurity vulnerabilities with the assistance of its banking partners, including Absa and the South African Reserve Bank.

Four officials — three in senior management and one middle-management official — have been placed on precautionary suspensions and 30 laptops were seized by the investigators.

“We are appealing to the team probing the security breach to conclude their investigation with speed,” Macpherson said.

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