The Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA) urges its members and government workers in general not to fall prey to misinformation and disinformation campaigns following the failed attempt to breach the Government Employees Pension Fund’s information system.
FEDUSA is aware that those seeking to victimise workers and benefit from their legitimate concerns have already started their campaigns in the light of the recent developments. FEDUSA has been assured by the GEPF that no information was obtained by the hackers during the attempted breach as it was prevented by tight cyber security protocols.
The GEPF has invited concerned workers to contact its call centre while it works on restoring the online system that had to be shut down to isolate the threat.
Cybercrimes are a reality the world over and FEDUSA implores the South African government to ensure the financial services sector complies with the Joint Standard: Cybersecurity and Cyber Resilience by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA). FEDUSA believes that given the interconnectedness nature of institutions, the need for platforms to share intelligence and facilitate meaningful collaboration has never been more urgent.
FEDUSA applauds the GEPF for having the necessary measures in place to have been able to thwart the threat and urges the institution to ensure that it is resilient in light of the attempt as research by the World Economic Forum shows that once hackers try to gain entry, the likelihood of future attempts increases.
FEDUSA calls on government employees to contact the GEPF should they have concerns and their respective trade unions and not fall prey to scaremongering by those seeking to fleece them of their hard-earned retirement savings.
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