EDITORIAL | There IT goes again: we need to heed the serious threat of cyber attacks

Just when SA can least afford it, the country has been hit by yet another economic sucker-punch, with a cyber attack on Transnet that has brought port traffic almost to a standstill.

On Monday the state-owned entity had to declare a force majeure — a contractual clause protecting it from liability due to circumstances beyond its control — after an unprecedented IT breach, affecting both rail and ports.

The sabotage has forced the entity into a manual environment, in which hard copies of clearance certificates and other paperwork must be provided before containers can be cleared. Not surprisingly, this has caused pandemonium, with business all but stalled.

Transnet has begun a staggered return to the online system Navis, which provides real-time data on cargo management, and said in a statement on Tuesday that significant progress has been made in restoring Transnet IT systems. 

But unsurprisingly, the agriculture and freight industry is not placated.

The Road Freight Association told News24 on Wednesday its members still could not get cargo in and out of ports, saying “the backlog is growing day by day”, while The Exporters Club of the Western Cape told the news platform the state of the ports was a “total nightmare”.

Stoking frustration is that this is the second time Transnet has had to announce a force majeure. It also made the call earlier this month on its rail line that connects Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal due to violent unrest in both provinces, which closed the N3 for a week.

Durban and Richards Bay ports suffered major backlogs. Hundreds of millions of rand in perishable stock went to waste as cargo destined for export was prevented from reaching these ports.

However, with a global increase in these kinds of data breaches, SA needs to ensure its economy is protected.

While the DA has linked the latest Transnet problems to the “failed insurrection”, acting minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said government does not believe the two incidents are related. Nevertheless, the impact has kicked the import-export industry while it’s down.

SA is the world’s second largest exporter of fresh citrus after Spain, and it is currently peak export season for the local citrus industry. The toll on this industry will be heavy. The Citrus Growers Association of Southern Africa had forecast a record-breaking season in 2021. However that forecast will need to be adjusted, after it lost almost a fortnight due to protests and the IT system failure.

Cyber attacks are not new and are a growing phenomenon. Joburg’s City Power was brought down by a ransomware attack in 2019. SA banks have also been affected. The US has been a popular war chest for cyber attackers, and many organisations there have been hit with hefty lawsuits by those impacted.

But not all cyber attacks are about money. President Cyril Ramaphosa is among a list of 11 heads of state, activists and journalists who were allegedly hacked by a spyware tool called Pegasus, made by Israeli cybersecurity company NSO Group.

It is unclear if the cyber attack on Transnet is a ransomware attack, in which the hackers are looking for a payoff, or a hack for another reason. However, with a global increase in these kinds of data breaches, SA needs to ensure its economy is protected.

Anna Collard, of security awareness training firm KnowBe4 Africa, told The Citizen that more criminals were shifting their attention towards emerging economies, and that SA is attractive because it has a developed infrastructure and a high degree of digitalisation, but not enough government capacity to defend against this on a national level.

That is a dire warning. Crippling SA’s ports and railway system is a sure-fire way to bring SA to its knees. Attacks on government bodies — think social security payments, tax collection, the provision of electricity, water and sanitation —  would have devastating repercussions.

​It is not only private companies that need to protect themselves from malware. Government must also ensure it has the necessary security to protect its operations. The cost of been caught wanting is too horrifying to contemplate.