Cybersecurity was a focus for the CSIR in the past financial year, with one project seeing the development of a tool that is ready to go live for web-based reporting to the South African Police Service.

In it its annual report for 2024/2025, published on Thursday, the CSIR said the tool allows for financial and electronic communications service providers to report cybercrimes directly to the police. It said a designated point of contact has been established.

The Cybercrimes Act requires all financial and electronic communications service providers to report cybercrimes directly to this designated point of contact. Previously, there was no dedicated mechanism or platform to report cybercrimes.

“As the use of digital systems for communication and online transactions becomes increasingly widespread, so do the risks to the safety and security of users’ personal information,” the CSIR said.

“In response, the CSIR developed a secure, web-based reporting platform that allows service providers to report cybercrimes directly to the SAPS designated point of contact, thereby supporting cybercrime investigation and response efforts. The tool has been fully developed over the past two years and is ready for deployment in a live environment.”

It said the tool will undergo final testing, security assessments and penetration testing before it is rolled out nationally for use by all financial and electronic communication service providers in South Africa.

According to the South African Banking Risk Information Centre’s (Sabric’s) annual crime statistics released in August, digital fraud is rapidly getting worse. The number of incidents reported by the banking sector in 2024 nearly doubled year on year. The rate of successful incidents is just as endemic, growing by more than two-thirds over the same period.

Skills

Gross losses from the 97 975 digital fraud incidents reported by the banking sector amounted to R1.9-billion. Comparing with data from 2022 and 2023, Sabric said that more than half of the total digital banking fraud cases in the past three years occurred in 2024 alone.

And according to the Communication Risk Information Centre’s (Comric’s) 2025 sector report, fraud in the telecommunications sector is costing the South African economy an estimated R5.3-billion/year. Sim swap-related attacks are a significant contributor, accounting for 60% of all mobile banking breaches.

Read: AI-led digital banking fraud is surging in South Africa

Another cybersecurity project of the CSIR has seen the science and technology research agency partnering with Italian gambling company Sisal. It aims to address the growing demand for skilled professionals in software engineering, data science and cybersecurity.

The partners established a technology hub at the CSIR focused on recruiting, training and developing local graduates through exposure to emerging digital technologies.

Interns were selected from various institutions of higher learning, with qualifications including national diplomas and BSc and honours degrees in computer science, IT and data science. To date, five graduates have been absorbed as interns by the CSIR Information and Cybersecurity Centre (PDF).

According to the report, the CSIR chieved 29 out of 31 of its key performance indicators for the 2024/2025 financial year.

There was an 11% increase in localised technologies; a 17% rise in joint technology development agreements with industry; and a 31% increase in the number of chief researchers. It turned a net profit R40.6-million.

Its targeted investment of R160-million in property, plant and equipment for the year was significantly exceeded due to additional grant funding secured and earmarked for investment in capital infrastructure.

Read: Sim-swap fraud costing South Africa R5.3-billion a year

These grant-funded asset investments amounted to R427.04-million, with investment in the CSIR’s high-performance computing system within the national integrated cyberinfrastructure system accounting for 64% of the total grant-funded asset investment. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media

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