South Africa’s corporate landscape is under siege from cyber threats — and paradoxically, many companies are making the problem worse by trying too hard to solve it. According to the CSIR, 88% of local organisations have suffered at least one data breach, prompting a scramble to invest in more tools, more software, and more dashboards. The result? A tangled mess known as security sprawl.
Coined by experts such as Richard Ford, Group CTO at Integrity360, security sprawl describes the proliferation of poorly integrated point solutions that fragment visibility and drain resources. What started as a defensive strategy has morphed into an expensive liability. “Instead of improving resilience, this tool overload has made organisations more vulnerable,” Ford warns. “Complexity is the new threat.”
The hidden cost of complexity
Data backs this up. PwC’s Global Digital Trust Insights survey found that 59% of South African organisations are actively simplifying their tech stacks. The problem is not a lack of investment but a lack of cohesion. Security teams are now suffering from “alert fatigue,” spending more time managing dashboards than managing threats. In the process, critical alerts slip through the cracks — and so do opportunities to respond before real damage occurs.
From chaos to clarity: the business case for consolidation
The new frontier in cybersecurity isn’t about buying the next shiny tool. It’s about seeing clearly. A unified security architecture — the much-discussed “single pane of glass” — is increasingly being recognised as the cornerstone of cyber resilience.
The financial rationale is compelling. Consolidation turns fragmented data into quantifiable risk, allowing boards to view cyber exposure as a business metric rather than a technical riddle. It also improves Mean Time to Respond (MTTR), directly reducing the cost of breaches and regulatory penalties. And by eliminating redundant tools, organisations can cut operational expenditure while demonstrating measurable ROI on security investments.
“Consolidation is not just about security; it’s about economics,” says Ford. “When you unify your view, you don’t just detect threats faster — you manage them cheaper.”
Attack Surface Management: the overlooked advantage
Ford highlights Attack Surface Management (ASM) as a critical part of this shift. Rather than a technical audit, ASM should be treated as an ongoing, evidence-based view of a company’s entire digital footprint. In other words, it’s about giving business leaders a live map of their exposure — and the ability to make informed, risk-based decisions in real time.
A pragmatic path forward
Consolidation doesn’t mean a reckless purge of legacy tools. Instead, experts recommend a pragmatic roadmap:
- Audit the current security environment to identify overlaps and gaps.
- Prioritise tools that offer interoperability and centralised visibility.
- Streamline vendor relationships to reduce administrative overhead.
- Anchor every security investment to tangible business outcomes.
This disciplined approach transforms cybersecurity from a cost centre into a value driver — one that enhances both resilience and efficiency.
A new kind of boardroom question
Ford believes the conversation around cybersecurity must evolve. “Executives shouldn’t be asking how many tools they have,” he says. “They should be asking whether they can see the whole picture.”
That shift in mindset — from accumulation to alignment — will define which organisations thrive in an era of escalating digital risk. True resilience isn’t about the number of tools in your stack. It’s about the clarity of your view.