24 May 2013 – Rosebank, SOUTH AFRICA: Trustwave, a leading provider of cloud-based compliance and information security solutions, yesterday held a roundtable to discuss the war on cybercrime and the role of compliance in reducing credit card fraud. The panel was hosted by Andrew Kirkland, country manager for Trustwave in South Africa, and Michael Aminzade, Director, Delivery EMEA, and included notaries from VISA, South African Centre for Information Security, SABRIC and the University of Pretoria.

The panellists included:

·         Andrew Kirkland, country manager for Trustwave in South Africa

·         Michael Aminzade, Director, Delivery, EMEA, Trustwave

·         Beza Belayneh, CEO and CIO, South African Center for Information Security

·         Kalyani Pillay, CEO, SABRIC

·         Bryce Thorrold, Head of Country Risky Management for Sub-Saharan Africa, VISA

·         Sylvia Papadopoulos, lecturer in the Department of Mercantile, Cyber Law at the University of Pretoria

The panel’s discussion was directed by questions from the attending media and the most prevalent issues that came to the fore were: the role of banks, the role of vendors and enterprises, the evolution of mobile commerce, and education.

Michael Aminzade explained that the security solutions industry is getting better at educating organisations, especially when compared with the guidance that was being issued 5-7 years ago. “However,” he added, “We put security measures in place, but as the users become more sophisticated, so do the hackers. “

The panellists moved through the impact of m-commerce and how banks and other organisations needed to educate consumers and prepare for the increase in mobile malware today. As the number of uneducated users using mobile phones increases, so does the risk of cybercrime as they are not given the tools to manage their devices securely.

In addition, the role of laws such as the Protection Of Personal Information (POPI) Act came under scrutiny as the media and panellists debated their value and whether or not they would make a difference today. Overall, it is believed that it gives consumers more, much needed, power and the businesses have to face a bigger stick when they fail to comply with compliance laws and mandates.

“Developers take shortcuts and this is where cybercrime focuses its efforts – on those weaknesses in code where rushed solutions have flaws they can exploit,” says Andrew Kirkland. “The infiltrators know that deadlines, financial pressures and urgency can push developers to overlook aspects of their code. We need to stop taking shortcuts and start treating the data we have as valuable.”

It is important that business recognise the importance of education and compliance. It’s a process that asks employees and organisations to respect procedures to ensure that data remains secure.

“It’s not if you get hacked, but when,” concludes Aminzade, “Businesses need to ask what message they can give to their customers to show them that they are protected, that they have put measures in place to protect data and that they are able to respond to an issue quickly and correctly.”

About Trustwave

Trustwave is a leading provider of compliance, Web, application, network and data security solutions delivered through the cloud, managed security services, software and appliances. For organizations faced with today's challenging data security and compliance environment, Trustwave provides a unique approach with comprehensive solutions that include its TrustKeeper® portal and other proprietary security solutions. Trustwave has helped hundreds of thousands of organizations--ranging from Fortune 500 businesses and large financial institutions to small and medium-sized retailers--manage compliance and secure their network infrastructures, data communications and critical information assets. Trustwave is headquartered in Chicago with offices worldwide. For more information, visit https://www.trustwave.com.