The Information Regulator is investigating a significant data breach at Standard Bank, where unauthorised access to sensitive client information has raised concerns
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The Information Regulator says it is investigating a data breach at Standard Bank following unauthorised access to certain client information last week.
This comes after the bank confirmed that an unauthorised party gained access to parts of its systems containing customer data. The affected information includes personal details such as names and identity numbers.
The bank, however, emphasised that its core banking systems were not compromised and customer accounts remain secure, but it has warned clients to be vigilant for possible phishing and impersonation attempts.
Advocate Tshepo Boikanyo, Executive: Protection of Personal Information (POPIA), said the regulator is assessing the incident and has requested further details from the bank to determine the full extent of the breach.
“In this instance, we’ll be looking at the access control measures that Standard Bank has, we’ll be looking at whether Standard Bank uses strong user authentication, we’ll be looking at their encryption, and whether they encrypt their personal information," Boikanyo said, according to The Citizen.
“We’ll be looking at their network system, security, we’ll be looking at their firewall and their intrusion detection system, and we were looking at their monitoring and logging,” .
Boikanyo added that Standard Bank is still conducting its own internal investigation and has not yet determined how many customers may have been affected or how widespread the breach is.
“Standard Bank has said to us that it is still conducting its own investigation. Standard Bank has not really come to a determination of how widespread this particular problem is, in other words, how many data subjects have been impacted".
Last month, IOL also reported that Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana confirmed that the Land and Agricultural Development Bank of South Africa was hit by a ransomware attack on 12 January 2026.
The Minister said that hackers demanded 5 Bitcoin, about R5.4 million, but the bank did not pay. He confirmed that critical banking systems and farmer data were not compromised.
"Land Bank detected unauthorised activity within parts of its computer systems. Preliminary investigations indicated that a third party gained access through a vulnerability on an internet-facing server and deployed ransomware, which encrypted a portion of the Land Bank server environment as well as multiple laptops." Godongwana said.
"The ransomware targeted servers in virtual server environments that are running Microsoft operating systems. The threat actors have been identified as a Ransomware-as-a-Service Group"
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