Cybersecurity & Cyber Resilience for Retirement Funds V2 2026

Cybersecurity & Resilience for Retirement Funds V2 2026 is an update on V1 2025, which unpacked the requirements of Joint Standard 2 of 2024 and the duty it placed on trustees of retirement funds and governing boards of financial institutions. V2 2026, expands on this initial learning, with a focus on how to identify and mitigate risks that a Fund or organisation may be exposed to.

Key concepts

Target Audience: Retirement fund trustees, administrators, service providers, and other financial institution stakeholders.

Duration: Approximately 3 hours, self-paced.

Learning Objectives:

Understand cybersecurity and cyber resilience concepts.
Comply with Joint Standard 2 of 2024 requirements.
Assess and monitor cyber risks.
The possible effects of cyber hacks.
Foster a culture of cybersecurity awareness.

Course Structure:

The course is divided into 10 modules, each with exercises, and a 10-question multiple-choice assessment. Supporting materials include a document, the Joint Standard 2, diagrams, video recordings, and external video links.

Please download and read the following documents before beginning the course.

Click to download brochure here.

Syllabus

The course consists of 9 modules and will take approximately 2 - 3 hours of learning time to complete, including assessments and exercises.

Modules 1 - 9

Module 1: Context, Threats and the Joint Standard

Understand why retirement funds are attractive cyber targets, distinguish cybersecurity from cyber resilience, and locate Joint Standard 2 of 2024 in South African financial-sector law.

Module 2: Governance, Risk and Core Controls

Keep accountability with the board, describe third-party duties, and name the control set the Standard expects.

Module 3: Incidents, People and the Path to Compliance

Apply the material-incident rule, treat people as a control, and leave with a dated action path.

Module 4: Independent Assessments, NIST CSF 2.0 Scoring and Gaps

Explain why an independent assessment is worth commissioning, describe NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 as a scoring language, and show how a current-versus-target profile becomes a risk-weighted gap plan that a board can fund.

Module 5: Validation and Testing of Continuity and Incident Recovery

Treat business continuity plans and incident-response / recovery policies as capabilities that must be exercised, measured against RTO and RPO, and repaired when the exercise fails..

Module 6: Password Hygiene and other Practical Hygiene

Replace folklore password rules with current good practice (aligned to NIST SP 800-63B) and adopt the neighbouring hygiene habits that actually reduce fund risk.

Module 7: What Attackers Steal and How They Monetise It

Give trustees a plain-language map of the criminal economy so that “member data” and “a mailbox” are understood as commodities with buyers, not abstract compliance items. This module describes impacts and markets. It does not teach anyone how to commit an offence.

Module 8: Five Recent Case Studies

Study five incidents from 202-–2026 that illustrate the patterns funds actually face: reused member passwords against pension portals, SaaS supply-chain token theft, voice-phishing into a financial firm, business email compromise in the South African pensions industry, and - as a positive continuity example - AVBOB’s manual disaster recovery paired with clear client communication.

Figures and attributions below follow public reporting and the course’s own teaching briefings. They are for training. Always re-check primary notices before citing a number in a regulatory filing.

Module 9: AI and Cybersecurity: The Debits and Credits

Give trustees a balanced ledger. Artificial intelligence is already on both sides of the fund’s cyber account - as a defensive tool and as an amplifier of fraud, leakage and over-confidence.

Module 10: Cybersecurity Awareness and Training

Foster a culture of cybersecurity awareness through effective training programs.

Module 11: Closing: Stay Current

What you should now be able to do.

What you earn

Course fees

Fund Bookings

All costs are per learner and exclusive of VAT. Bulk discounts are available for groups of 5 or more.

The cybersecurity landscape is challenging, but your commitment to this course demonstrates your dedication to protecting retirement funds in an increasingly digital world. By embedding cybersecurity and resilience into your fund’s operations, you contribute to a trusted, stable financial sector. Let this course be the foundation for ongoing vigilance and excellence. Thank you for your efforts, and we wish you success in building a secure future for your fund and its members.