Cyber security is very critical to the economic development of the country- Communication Minister

Communication Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has commended the passage of the Cyber security Act 2020 as parts of government’s efforts to protect individuals from fraudulent online transactions as well as guarantee online safety within the country’s digital space.

Contained in a memorandum signed by Mrs. Ekuful, it showed that, cyber security is pertinent to the growth and viability of any economy.

“A successful economy is hinged on a secured, safe and resilient national digital ecosystem. Cyber security is, therefore, very critical to the economic development of the country and essential to the protection of the rights of individuals within the national digital ecosystem”.

Ghana has so far recorded a total of 11,550 cases of cybercrimes since launching its Cybercrime Incident Reporting Points of Contact (PoC) in October 2019.

According to the National Cybersecurity Advisor, Dr. Albert Antwi-Boasiako, this has been achieved as a result of the enhancement of the work of the National Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) with that of the PoC.

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Speaking at the formal opening of the 2020 National Cyber Security Awareness Month and the launch of the Child Online Protection (COP) Portal in Accra on Thursday, October 1, 2020, Dr. Antwi-Boasiako, said the Points of Contact are especially crucial as it will augment the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) Reporting Portal.

He pointed out that the CERT of the National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC) has also produced a number of advisories, incident alerts and vulnerability notes to both the public and allied agencies of CERTs, including the National Communications Authority’s Computer Emergency Response Team (NCA-CERT), for the telecommunications sector, and the Security Operations Centre at the Bank of Ghana (BOG-SOC), for the financial sector; which were established in 2018.

That, Dr. Antwi-Bosiako noted, had further improved the country’s incident response capabilities.

According to him, the country’s cyber space was becoming safer as result of the various awareness creation activities that the Ministry of Communications and the NCSC had created.

“I trust that there will be a significant increase in the use of the Points of Contact to report cyber security incidents and cybercrime cases,” he said, adding that the strides that the country is making in the area of cyber security has been recognised internationally”.

The internet has become a critical infrastructure and facilitator of engagements for individual users, businesses and Government across the globe. In Ghana, the increasing reliance on the internet and Information Communication Technology has led to increased cyber security incidents such as ransomware, cyber theft, banking fraud, cyber espionage and other cyber-attacks targeted at critical information infrastructure.

These cyber security incidents have affected critical sectors of the country including energy, telecommunications, banking and finance and have caused disruptions in the delivery of essential services. If unchecked, it can undermine the security and economy of the country.