Cyber security expert urges organisations to prioritise cyber defence

Accra, Oct 25, - Mr Philemon Hini, the Head of Technical Operation, e-Crime Bureau, has urged organisations to build their capacities, as well as develop and train their Information and Communication Technology personnel to protect their cyber space from attacks.

  

He said this was against the backdrop of many reports pointing to increasing cyber-attacks on organisations.

  

Mr Hini gave the advice in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sideline of the inauguration of the state-of-the-art Cyber Training Laboratory at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra.

  

The modern Cyber Training Laboratory, which was inaugurated by Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister of Communications, was spearheaded by the KAIPTC, in partnership, with e-crime Bureau.

  

About two years ago, KAIPTC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with e-Crime Bureau to provide world class capacity building in cyber security and digital forensics.

    

This is in recognition of the pioneering work of e-crime Bureau within cyber security landscape in Ghana and the West Africa sub-region.

  

Mr Hini said the e-Crime Bureau noticed that there was a gap in terms of cyber security and digital forensics in the country, hence the Centre to provide relevant industrial courses to fill the gap.

  

He said last year alone, globally there were attacks on some institutions in about 150 countries; involving cyber criminals installing malicious applications on computers due to vulnerabilities, and later demanding huge sums of money.

  

He said e-Crime Bureau conducted vulnerability assessment tests for most institutions and identified these similar vulnerabilities, and so made recommendations to address them.

 

“However, the situation is even more serious when people do not assess their vulnerabilities,” he cautioned.

  

Mr Hini, therefore, advised institutions to build their cyber capability to ensure they were able to deal with these cyber security issues, while e-Crime continued to highlight the vulnerabilities, techniques and provided solutions in preventing such occurrences.

  

He said the e-Crime Bureau currently had a partnership with the KAIPTC to provide support to institutions across industry, including security/law enforcement, banking, production and manufacturing, mining, oil and gas, in building the capacity of professionals in cyber security and cyber forensics.

  

He said the collaboration was also intended to undertake research and initiate projects within the West African Sub Region.

  

e-Crime Bureau is an industry leader in West Africa in the area of cyber security, digital forensics, intelligence, investigations and related services.

GNA