Abstract
Public and private sector organisations are increasingly becoming victims of cybercrime. As such, it merits a study to identify the challenges experienced by organisations in their efforts to implement cybersecurity. This study identifies the cybersecurity implementation challenges experienced by South African National Government Departments that have previously been victims of cyber-attacks. The study further identifies the root causes for the challenges experienced by twelve South African National Government Departments.
This study adopted a qualitative content analysis to answer the research question and achieve the objectives. The qualitative text and audio were collected from annual reports, annual performance plans, strategic plans, media articles, YouTube videos, cybersecurity documents, security standards and policies, speeches and statements of the various National Government Departments included in the study sample. Themes were created from the collected data and are based on the challenges experienced by the National Government Departments.
The findings from this study indicate that the South African public service experiences cybersecurity implementation challenges. However, these are not unique to the South African context. Instead, the challenges National Government Departments experienced regarding cybersecurity implementation align with those experienced on a global scale. Literature has shown that the most common challenges experienced by organisations globally are the lack of cybersecurity skills and budget constraints surrounding the implementation of cybersecurity, as it is known that cybersecurity is an expensive process to implement. This study has proven to agree with this notion.
Although the South African public service is gradually taking action to address the problem of cybercrime, such as signing into law the Cybercrimes Act, this study provides suggestions that National Government Departments can take to assist in strengthening their cybersecurity implementation.
KEYWORDS:
Cybersecurity, implementation, challenges, public service, National Government Departments, cybercrime, cyber-attacks.