LIQUID Intelligent Technologies (Liquid) has experienced increased demand for automated cyber security services, as businesses shift from human analysts to cutting edge technology, a top company executive said this week.

Liquid managing executive cyber security Ignus De Villiers said the African continent had become a fertile hunting ground for increasingly sophisticated cyber criminals.

With the number of internet users in Africa expected to reach 1,1 billion by 2029, he noted that cyber security had never been more important. In South Africa for instance, the Allianz Risk Barometer ranks cyber incidents as the second most dangerous risk (after critical infrastructure blackouts).

“From ransomware to phishing, malware and data breaches, the methods are varied, and the results are often catastrophic,” he said.

“Compounding this are outdated, inflexible (and often manual) legacy security controls that cannot keep pace with the enormous scale of data being produced.  The result: many African organisations find themselves on the receiving end of threats that simply couldn’t be detected or responded to quickly enough.”

De Villiers added: “To mitigate these threats, businesses are increasingly working with technology companies like Liquid Intelligent Technologies to automate cyber security-related tasks traditionally performed by human analysts, such as monitoring networks, identifying vulnerabilities, and responding to incidents.

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“Using advanced software and technologies to take care of these tasks results in increased efficiencies, reduced instances of human error, and faster response times. Employees are freed up to concentrate on other aspects of the business.”

The cyber security expert said an even more advanced step, predictive analytics, is to analyse the large sets of data generated by organisations to identify patterns and predict and mitigate potential threats before they even occur.

Powered by machine learning algorithms, he said these automated systems provide the continuous monitoring and real-time analysis that manual systems cannot, offering organisations significantly enhanced protection against cyber threats and safeguarding digital assets.

“This improved accuracy over traditional systems, combined with the ability to learn from patterns, is invaluable to businesses on the continent. Also, in a welcome move, at government level, cyber security is increasingly being recognised and governed through legislation like South Africa’s Cybercrimes Act of 2020,” he said.

He said at Liquid they use several advanced technologies in tandem to enhance their cyber security solutions, ensuring that customers are protected on all fronts.

“AI-powered systems monitor networks for threats, and automatically block suspicious traffic or isolate devices that either violate policies or show signs of malicious activity,” he said.

“Other platforms collect and analyse logs from various devices, using automated solutions to detect anomalies. Automation features also deal with repetitive security tasks like analysing suspicious emails.

“The organisations that are already at this advanced level are reaping the benefits of these innovative technologies as they grow their businesses, secure in the knowledge that cyber criminals are being kept at bay.”

Recent market research reports that the global big data market is set to grow from US$138,9 billion in 2020 to US$229,4 billion by 2025, due in part to the escalating demand for data-driven decision-making by organisations looking to gain a competitive advantage.

With big data comes the need for equally substantial cyber security solutions, De Villiers noted.