A South African company specializing in cyber security has received the #CyberFit Acronis Loyalty Award in the United States, given to Acronis partners for working and growing with Acronis for more than five years.
Acronis is a global data protection software company headquartered in Switzerland and Singapore. The company helps other businesses protect their data, applications, systems and productivity in more than 150 countries, protecting them from cyber attacks, hardware failures, natural disasters and human error.
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IronTree is a South African company, founded in 2007, and a provider of business continuity services that include secure online backup, ransomware protection and disaster recovery as a service.
Steve Porter, Managing Director of IronTree, explained that out of 16 000 partners around the world, the company surpassed all of them to win the award.
“It is very important for us that a South African company has been recognized again. We are a proud African organization,” he said.
SA still faces cyber threats
According to the Interpol 2021 report, South Africa had 230 million cyber threat detections between January 2020 and February 2021. In addition, the country recorded a 100% increase in mobile banking app fraud and was estimated to experience 577 malware attacks every hour in 2020. As a result, the country considered to be the third highest victim of cybercrime worldwide.
The South African Banking Risk Information Center’s (SABRIC) Annual Crime Statistics revealed an increase in calls from fraudsters impersonating bank officials, with a type of scam called vishing (or voice phishing).
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Hamil Bhoora, PwC Africa’s Cyber Security Competency Leader, said: “Cyber security has become a sophisticated and dynamic field that requires businesses to quickly adjust and improve their cybersecurity defenses in order to detect and prevent cyber criminals from compromising their organizations. This is clearly demonstrated in the survey results Digital Trust Insights survey where we look at opportunities for business executives and cybersecurity professionals to emphasize that more work is needed to protect organizations from cybercrime.
* Compiled by Devina Haripersad