Cybercrime costs local telecoms operators more than R5bn in 2025, a report from industry body the Communication Risk Information Centre (Comric) has revealed.
The report underscores how cybercrime has become a major threat to businesses worldwide, topping issues such as political instability, energy insecurity and economic volatility for some.
On Monday, Comric said its new Telco Risk View for 2026 shows the industry “absorbed R5.3bn in fraud and cyber losses in 2025”.
Founded by Vodacom, Cell C, Telkom, MTN and Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Comric is an association set up to deal with issues of crime and risk in South Africa’s telecommunications industry.
‘Direct risk’
The body has warned that South Africa’s telecoms sector is likely to face “intensifying cybercrime, infrastructure fragility and global supply threats that pose a direct risk to national digital stability” in 2026.
Attacks have become commonplace — the price for the speed, ease of communication and huge data processing provided by the internet.
In recent memory, operators have faced some big attacks. In April last year, Africa’s largest mobile provider, MTN, confirmed its systems were breached by cybercriminals, resulting in unauthorised access to personal information of customers in certain markets.
In December 2024, Cell C confirmed that it had suffered a major ransomware attack. Sensitive unstructured customer data — including ID numbers, bank details, driving licences, medical records and passport information — was compromised and later leaked on the dark web.
Co-operation in digital economy
According to Comric, the damage in 2025 could have been worse. “Our industry did not avoid a crisis through fortune. It avoided a crisis because operators worked together, shared data and responded faster than the threats evolving around them, said CEO Thokozani Mvelase.
“The next phase will require even deeper co-operation and a commitment to transparency. South Africa’s digital economy depends on networks that do not fracture under pressure.”
While AI continues to be the biggest trend in technology, cybersecurity has fast become an area that receives increasing attention and investment from companies as the stakes of operating in the digital economy become higher.
Listen: PODCAST | Check Point warns of growing cybercrime activity in Africa
Businesses understand they stand to lose millions of rand and reputational damage if breaches are not contained or minimised. According to the Allianz Risk Barometer, cyber incidents — including ransomware attacks, data breaches and IT outages — are now the top global business risk.
A decade ago, only 12% of global respondents cited cyber as a major concern. In 2025, that number surged to 38%.
Cybersecurity firm Check Point Software Technologies recently reported that South African businesses, particularly those in the corporate sector, each face 1,863 attacks per organisation per week.
Comric noted that highly co-ordinated criminal groups and state-linked actors continue to target telcos, “turning cyberdefence into a licence to operate rather than a compliance requirement”.
Mvelase concluded: “A breach at one operator can cascade across the entire economy. No company can defend itself alone. Shared intelligence, unified response systems, and sector-wide early warning protocols are essential to national resilience.”
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