KnowBe4 hosted the inaugural Africa Cyber Security Culture Conference 2020 in June 2020, which invited delegates and speakers from across the continent and around the world to discuss security culture and the impact of the global pandemic
The event, which took place on 11 June, hosted industry experts from Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Norway, the USA and South Africa, among others, and focused on major trends and topics relevant to cybersecurity on the continent.
Anna Collard, managing director of KnowBe4 Africa, said, “We expected maybe 200 delegates, and we ended up with 1300 people registering to attend.
“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.
Collard said keynote speaker Charl van der Walt, Orange Cyberdefense’s head of security research, revealed that, despite everything, simple security failures such as poor patching, basic safety hygiene and human error are the root causes of most security breaches.
“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,” Collard added.
Kai Roer, CLTRe’s managing director, shared how scientific survey models can be used to measure what safety culture means, and how it can be tracked over time. Done across multiple organisations worldwide, the data reflected that African users were more conservative compared to American users and that if a business wants to have an impact on the culture of security, it must measure it.
Lynne Moses, First National Bank’s information security governance specialist, spoke about the tools she uses to measure return on investment in safety and culture.
At the beginning and end of the year, she evaluates security culture across 45,000 end-users across multiple African countries to compare the behaviours of people and how they have either improved or deteriorated. This makes it easier to prioritise what safety principles need to be prioritised – such as compliance or phishing.
Throughout the event, industry leaders shared security concerns in the new normal, best practices for future safety management and how to help employees build safe spaces in their homes and offices.
Roger Grimes, the data-driven evangelist at KnowBe4, and Ian Keller, SBV Services’ chief information security officer, both gave powerful presentations on training, safety hygiene, and security awareness.
“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,” concluded Collard.
