Security: An African success story
Global expertise, locally relevant security insights – African Cyber Security Culture event
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, June 29, 2020/ -- In June 2020, KnowBe4 (www.KnowBe4.com) hosted the inaugural Africa Cyber Security Culture Conference 2020 that invited delegates and speakers from across the continent, and the
world, to discuss security culture and the impact of the global
pandemic. Held on 11 June, the event hosted industry experts from Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Norway, USA and South Africa, among others, and
focused on key trends and topics relevant to cybersecurity on the
African continent.
Go here for full access to the speaker presentations and recorded panel discussions: www.AfricaCyberSeccon.com.
According to Anna Collard, Managing Director of KnowBe4 Africa, the event exceeded expectations.
“We expected maybe 200 delegates, and we ended up with 1300 people
registering to attend,” she says. “They came from all over the world,
not just Africa, and engaged in conversations that helped shape the
picture of security on the continent and in preparing for a more secure
future.”
What made the event truly stand out was how easy it was for speakers and attendees to engage with one another and to share insights, and for the event to host a truly diverse range of speakers. Traditionally, events
are limited by the costs that come with an international speaker circuit but a virtual experience bypasses all the complexities and opens up
significantly more variety in panel and discussion.
“Our keynote speaker, Charl van der Walt, Head of Security Research at
Orange Cyberdefense, revealed that, in spite of everything, simple
security failures like poor patching, basic security hygiene and human
error are the root causes of most security breaches,” adds Collard.
“People are more vulnerable working from home and the company has
limited control over devices and environments which is further
increasing vulnerabilities. And the cybercriminals are exploiting this.”
Kai Roer, Managing Director at CLTRe shared how it’s possible to use
scientific survey models to measure what security culture means and how
it can be tracked over time. Done over multiple organisations,
worldwide, the data reflected that African users were more conservative
compared with American users and that if a business wants to impact
security culture, it has to measure it.
“Lynne Moses, Information Security Governance Specialist at First
National Bank, spoke about the tools she uses to measure return on
investment into security and culture,” says Collard. “She assesses
security culture across 45,000 end users across multiple African
countries at the beginning and the end of the year to compare people’s
behaviours and how they’ve either improved or deteriorated. This makes
it easier to prioritise what security principles – like compliance or
phishing – have to be prioritised.”
Throughout the event, leaders in the industry shared security concerns
in the new normal, best practice for managing security in the future,
and how to help employees build safe spaces in their homes and offices.
“Roger Grimes, the Data-Driven Evangelist at KnowBe4 and Ian Keller,
Chief Information Security Officer at SBV Services, both provided
powerful presentations around training, security hygiene, and security
awareness,” concludes Collard. “The event highlighted the need for
richer security cultures, how a scientific approach can help create this culture, and how to bring about real change.”
The feedback from the attendees was overwhelmingly positive, so much so
that KnowBe4 is planning to run a second event in the last quarter of
2020 that’s even more inclusive and accessible.
Play online games for free at games.easybranches.com
Guest Post Services www.easybranches.com/contribute