Oliver Niemandt, general manager and head of sales, Cloud On Demand.
The pressure on South African organisations is no longer coming from one direction. Identity risk, faster exploitation and rising compliance expectations are colliding at the same time.
There is a familiar pattern in many organisations. Security gets serious attention after a phishing incident, a compromised account, a failed audit point or a piece of ransomware somewhere in the organisation’s ecosystem. The response is often urgent and well intentioned, but it is still reactive. In 2026, that approach is becoming harder to defend.
The threat picture has shifted in a way that should change how business leaders think about cyber risk. The problem is not simply that attacks are increasing. It is that the methods are becoming faster, less visible and more closely tied to ordinary business activity. Credentials are stolen quietly. Access is abused rather than forced. Misconfigurations and exposed services create openings long before anyone notices. That makes cyber security less about perimeter defence and more about operational readiness.
Why identity and readiness now matter more
The role of identity in particular…
