Inside South Africa's Cybersecurity Hub

[Jamie McKane]

Inside South Africa's Cybersecurity Hub

MyBroadband was recently given the opportunity to visit the government’s Cybersecurity Hub.

The Cybersecurity Hub was established in 2015 by the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services (now the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies) and is the National Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT), which serves as the central point for cybersecurity incidents relating to the private sector, civil society and citizens of the Republic of South Africa.

Due to managing this type of information, the security measures one must undergo to enter the Cybersecurity Hub are rigorous.

 

[r00igev@@r]

You need more than just a website, Chinas.

 

[S.Claus]

The way things are going in this country I was expecting them to operate out of a cardboard box next to KFC.

 

[Longboi]

The way things are going in this country I was expecting them to operate out of a cardboard box next to KFC.

Agreed.

 

[Napalm2880]

Anyone know if this organisation actually does anything of value and had dealings with them or is it 30 percenters with an A+ certification?

 

[Longboi]

Anyone know if this organisation actually does anything of value and had dealings with them or is it 30 percenters with an A+ certification?

Probably just only bare matric pass BEE workers, with a few token witous and charous to make sure everything is working like it's supposed to.

 

[tjma2001]

These adverts are so weird.

 

[Mr Scratch]

Lol it's all a farce.

 

[Gerry]

 

[Easter Bunny]

This also meant that we were unable to take any pictures of the Cybersecurity Hub.

do none of you know how to draw from memory?

 

[ponder]

Lol, gov doesn't have a clue wrt cyber security.

 

[Thor]

Horrified

 

[j4ck455]

“The use of the word ‘hub’ in our name is a great indicator of what we do,” said Deputy Director General of the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies Tinyiko Ngobeni.

“We serve as a central point through which all the different stakeholders can communicate so that incidents can be solved effectively.”

My impression is that he is paid to be the admin of a useless WhatsApp group called "hub".

 

[RonSwanson]

Sounds to me like these guys do absolutely fsckall, and then hide their uselessness and ineptitude under a "woo woo" top secret cloud.

 

[Mr Scratch]

The rest of the article sounded like complete fluff with the only thing of interest being their "cyber for dummies" PDFs from 2002 which aren't even made public but are for public education?

You guys had absolutely zero critical discussion of what the hub actually is, what they appear to lack and what they appear to do more than what we give them credit for (the bar is already at zero so why not mention ANYTHING at all?)

Just a copy paste of the (comedic) talking points the person there wanted MyBB to raise so the muppet public can hear.

 

[Mr Scratch]

My takeaway from this article is that the hub is so embarrassingly poor they didn't want the actual photos or description of the operations centre (if one even exists) to be made public for us to scrutinise.

 

[Mr Scratch]

The headline "inside" is so misleading because the article has no substance of what's actually inside the hub, only what's inside the (empty) head of the parrot delivering those talking points.

 

[emperornemesis]

Anyone know if this organisation actually does anything of value and had dealings with them or is it 30 percenters with an A+ certification?

Even having an A+ seems to be stretching it a bit. I suspect they've only got a relative in the anc, which in SA is the best qualification to have, just ask Richard Mdluli, who as head of the SAPS Crime Intelligence, employed various family members into high ranking positions in the department while none of them knew how to use a computer. Well I guess using a computer is of no relevance when you are a state employed cadre since cadre school's main subjects are corruption, uselessness, coming late and leaving early, an children's guide to Karl Marx, general dishonesty, blaming apartheid, stealing matric exam papers, how to drive like a moron, how to buy expensive stuff without actually paying for them and fraud.

 

[emperornemesis]

My takeaway from this article is that the hub is so embarrassingly poor they didn't want the actual photos or description of the operations centre (if one even exists) to be made public for us to scrutinise.

I think it's a bit harsh to call it "embarrassingly poor", there is a almost functional computer in the one corner used to check the nearby KFC's menu. Of course, they do not actually order online because the dialup modem is slow, and because none of them know how to use internet banking, but let's not dwell on the negative points, the positive points here are that more uneducated anc morons are employed to ensure they win another election.

 

[emperornemesis]

Sounds to me like these guys do absolutely fsckall, and then hide their uselessness and ineptitude under a "woo woo" top secret cloud.

It's a state department under the anc, for a moment there it almost sounded like you knew of a department where this was not happening.