Govt to establish National Cyber security Authority

Adnan Adams Mohammed

As part of efforts to secure Ghana’s cyber space, government is to set up a National Cyber security Authority and enact a Cyber security Act to address cybercrime issues and regulations in line with global trends, the current challenges facing the national cyber security development.

The government has given an assurance that, it would provide the funding for the critical infrastructure needed to ensure Ghana’s cyber security, to protect the people, the economy and the country’s national security.

The President, Nana Akuffo Addo gave the assurance at the launch of the National Cyber Security Awareness Month organised jointly by the Ministry of Communications and the National Cyber Security Centre at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) at Teshie near Accra.

It is reported that, Ghana has lost US$97 million to cybercrime as of August 2018.

Director of the Cyber Crime Unit of the Ghana Police Service, Dr Gustav Yankson disclosed this in Tamale during the regional sensitisation workshop on cybercrime as part of the cybersecurity awareness month celebration.

He said the issue of cybercrime is affecting Ghana’s economy and all efforts must be put in place to fight against the menace.

“Last year we lost $69 million to cyber criminals and this year as at August, we lost $97 million so it is very worrying and therefore there is the need for education to avoid this.

We lost this amount because we were not protecting ourselves online and a large part of this fraud is based on deception so if we are able to empower ourselves to prevent being deceived, the menace can be reduced by two thirds” he noted.

Dr Yankson emphasised the need for every internet user to be aware of the risks to cyber-attacks.

He discouraged students from sharing critical information with strangers online including nude pictures, location and daily activities.