Telkom prioritises cybersecurity in South Africa’s digital era
Telkom is intensifying its cybersecurity strategy to protect South African businesses and consumers as digital threats escalate.
The company is driving a comprehensive security programme guided by Dr Noxolo Kubheka-Dlamini, Telkom’s Chief Digital and Information Officer.
According to Kubheka-Dlamini, telecommunications operators remain prime targets for increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks.
“Telcos are one of the industries that have been under serious attack from cyber threats and bad actors,” she said.
“We are not immune to attacks, and we understand that fully.”
A comprehensive approach
Telkom approaches cybersecurity as a holistic process – not just an IT team implementing software.
“There’s awareness, training, simulations, all being done to make sure people are sensitive to how malicious parties will target them,” said Kubheka-Dlamini.
Furthermore, cybersecurity is embraced and supported at a Group and board level, as Telkom has identified the extreme importance of data protection in the modern digital climate.
This robust approach to cybersecurity also includes vetting all OEMs and partners on a cybersecurity basis – ensuring that there are no cybersecurity weak links in Telkom’s ecosystem.
“The collaboration with our partners to secure our security posture is important,” said Kubheka-Dlamini.
“We are always learning from each other.”
This is complemented by Telkom’s robust frameworks that ensure cybersecurity and regulatory compliance are embraced across the entire business.
Innovation and cybersecurity
Dr Kubheka-Dlamini explained that innovation and creativity cannot be stifled because of security, but security also cannot be compromised to promote innovation and creativity.
The solution is simple: these elements must work together to ensure that both are integrated in a way that enhances the other.
This includes the use of AI, which can be used both to streamline processes and intelligently protect core business resources.
An example of this is at a network level – across both the core networks and enterprise networks – AI is used to manage these networks effectively.
At an application level, AI is used to boost Telkom’s IAM solutions and protect its users.
Telkom’s success
Thanks to its comprehensive approach to cybersecurity, Telkom has not had a major cybersecurity incident in the past five years.
When issues do arrive, they are identified and addressed before they can propagate – meaning often, internal staff don’t even know there was an issue.
This is thanks to Telkom’s converged approach to cybersecurity, as it acknowledges that threats can come from any part of the business.
Across all investment decisions, everything is cybersecurity by design – making Telkom the ultimate telco partner for individuals and businesses in South Africa.
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