African companies were not doing enough to mitigate the rising instances of cybercrime that were increasingly leaving companies “counting losses” and vulnerable, advisory firm Deloitte warned on Tuesday.

Successful cyberattacks mostly came on the back of poorly implemented strategies or a lack of a well-defined cybersecurity plan, Deloitte Cyber Risk Services risk advisory Africa leader Derek Schraader said.

“For African organisations to be vigilant, resilient and secure, a holistic proactive approach to the evolving cyberthreat landscape is required and in developing a cybersecurity strategy and framework, special care should be taken to make provision for current and evolving threats,” he noted in a statement.

However, “too few” corporates across Africa were making the management changes needed to ward off the threat, with the fight against cybersecurity requiring “far more” than just an understanding of the capabilities and exposure of existing and emerging information technologies.

“Improving cybersecurity is not a one-time solution. It is a journey – for information technology leaders and business decision-makers alike. Figuring out which steps to take can sometimes prove to be a challenging decision for any organisation; however, there are essential steps that all organisations must take to improve their online security,” he explained.

These included maintaining a focus on understanding critical assets and interactions; proactively assessing the cyberrisk of companies; developing a multilayered defence; fortifying the organisation and “preparing for the inevitable”.

“This could assist in creating an organisation that operates securely, that remains vigilant in the face of cyberthreats, and that can show resiliency when attacked.

“The staggered approach emphasises pragmatic solutions, that are industry-specific and that deploy the right people, processes and tools to address known and emerging cyberthreats,” he pointed out.