NATIONAL CYBER SECURITY POLICY STRATEGY TO AID THE RELIANCE ON DIGITAL ECONOMY - DR. BAWUMIA
The Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, Dr. Muhamadu Bawumia has given firm assurance of government’s readiness to deal with all cyber related crimes that keep arising as countries all over the world push for connectivity in an increasing digital world, and as Ghana prepares for the 4th industrial revolution.
He noted that as we become more reliant on the digital economy, there was the need for collective responsibility to create awareness on the security and mutual benefits of the digital world to all users.
Speaking at the opening of the ‘Future of Work Conference’ in Accra, the Vice President revealed that it was not surprising that both government and businesses around the world were searching for effective and efficient cyber defense strategies.
He disclosed that a National Cyber Security Inter-Ministerial Advisory and National Cyber Security Technical Working Group which were inaugurated by the President and Minister for Communications, respectively, have been tasked to ensure that all the necessary inter-linkages and likely impacts were effectively dealt with.
“Ghana is part of the global village that is pushing for connectivity and as we become more and closely connected to each other, together we become highly vulnerable to cyber-attacks more especially when there are insufficient authentication methods or lack of consumer security knowledge” Dr. Bawumia said.
According to him, attackers usually aim at accessing, changing or distorting sensitive information and aside extorting money from users, others too interrupt business processes whether in the private or public sector.
A National Cyber Security Policy, which would soon be operationalize by the end of the year, Dr. Bawumia hinted, mandates the Ministry of Communications to work with other Ministries, Agencies, the Private Sector and Ghana’s International Partners to address any issues that may have the potential to compromise on our security.
“To further ensure that the market woman paying for her services through mobile money transfer had a clean and secured transaction, and the ordinary citizen paying via the internet had no fear that the transaction would be truncated or diverted to an untended account, Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) had been established’’ the head of the Police Council stated.
He hinted that government would not relent on its efforts to crack down on all cyber criminals and appealed to the general public to relay relevant information to the appropriate authorities and also visit relevant institutions for any assistance.
The ‘Future of Work Conference’ was organized by the International Monetary Fund as part of the programme of the IMF Managing Director, Christine Lagarde’s visit to Ghana. END