The City of Tshwane MMC responsible for Corporate and Shared Services, Sylvester Phokoje, unveiled the metropolitan municipality’s Security Operations Centre which has been set up to proactively and reactively restrict cyber threats to the City.
Phokoje said the Centre which began in August 2019 was in response to the urgent need to protect the City’s digital assets with modern technologies and to enable residents a seamless experience in accessing the City’s e-Services such as online statements.
“This includes implementing proactive measures for confidential information such as ID numbers, addresses and banking information in line with Protection of Personal Information Act(POPI Act),” said Phokoje.
Designed and operated by the City of Tshwane in partnership with Take Note Information technology (Take Note IT), the Security Operations Centre(SOC) functions around the clock, 365 days with dedicated cyber response team.
“This Uninterrupted monitoring is critical to detecting the first signs of Cyber-attack that can impact the City’s ability to provide services to its residents,” said Phokoje.
He said the SOC was completed in December 2020 and boasts a cyber centre of excellence for training youth on cyber security skills.
“To date, more than 20 young people have been trained in both practical and soft skills in response to cyber skills shortage in the country and beyond,” he said.
According to Phokoje, cyber threat prevention remains critical for the City’s operations. “Having a SOC is an indication to the City’s stakeholders, employees, residents and government that we take security and privacy seriously,”
He said the SOC has to date successfully resolves over 4000 cyber incidents. “We have further resolved nearly 150 phishing incidents, providing our residents with some peace of mind and security,” added Phokoje.
