Question NW751 to the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies
04 May 2023 - NW751
Bodlani, Ms T to ask the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies
(a) Whether his department has built capacity to address cybercrime and promote cybersecurity; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
I have been advised by the Department as follows:-
Cybercrime is the mandate of law enforcement agencies with the Cybercrimes Act 19 of 2020 being the primary and most recent piece of legislation in this regard. The Department has a peripheral role with regards to cybercrime in that acts of cybercrime reported to the Department are routed to law enforcement agencies.
With respect to cybersecurity, the Department has established in 2016 and subsequently operationalised a national Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT), namely the Cybersecurity Hub, as per the National Cybersecurity Policy Framework (NCPF) of 2015. The Cybersecurity Hub under the department has a specific mandate to act as the national CSIRT responsible for the private sector and citizens. The Cybersecurity Hub delivers various services including inter alia incident coordination, cybersecurity assessment and advisory services, cybersecurity awareness building and collaboration with private sector industry bodies tasked with issues of cybersecurity.
With respect to promoting cybersecurity the following specific initiatives were and are being undertaken: simulation exercises that improve the coordination of incident response capability at a national level; development of a cybersecurity toolkit for small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs), which is freely available; and development of a cybersecurity schools toolkit for teachers, parents and learners which is freely available.
Thank You.