Silence Hacking Group - Business as Usual for SA Banks

SABRIC, the South African Banking Risk Information Centre is aware of the media statement issued by Kaspersky on the 13th of January 2020 about potential malware attacks on major banks in the sub-Saharan Africa region, entitled ‘Silence before the storm: Russian speaking hacking group is attacking banks in Sub-Saharan Africa’. It states that the threat actors are most likely the Russian ‘Silence’ hacking group which has been responsible for the theft of millions of dollars globally.

There has been no impact on our Banks to date and it is business as usual as all banking services are operating normally. Nevertheless, the Banking Industry takes cybersecurity very seriously and has robust risk mitigation strategies in place. Because banks, as the custodians of money, are continuously under attack globally, these strategies are agile and are reviewed as new threats are identified.

“The banking industry collaborates by sharing information to ensure that our cyber resilience is continually strengthened. We will continue to monitor this situation very closely as an industry.“ says SABRIC acting CEO, Susan Potgieter.