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By Arthur-Mensah Godwill / Eric Appah Marfo, GNA
Accra, May 2, GNA – The Institute of Compliance
and Cyber Studies (ICCS), a multidisciplinary network of researchers, bankers,
economists, lawyers and professionals interested in combating cybercrime and
financial crimes, expressed concern about the rise in crime
Cybercrime in Ghana.
He called for a public-private partnership
raise public awareness of cybersecurity issues and create a platform for
brainstorming for the implementation of cybersecurity guidelines in the area of
country.
Stephanie Agyei Henneh, Head of the
Research at the ICCS, launched the call at the launch of a survey on cyberinsurance
ICCS on the theme: "Patronage of cyber insurance: an emerging project
Need".
She urged the National Insurance Commission,
National Pension Regulation Authority and Securities and Exchange Commission
working collaboratively to adopt cybersecurity guidelines
to guide their regulated institutions, similar to what the Bank of Ghana had done
in the banking sector.
She said with the increase of data
consumption of businesses and business organizations in the country there was
high tendency of their useful data to access the public domain.
Therefore, Internet hackers, who had become
more sophisticated, could easily exploit business networks and
software vulnerabilities for their bad intentions.
Ms. Agyei Henneh emphasized the need for
insurers to actively develop strategies and invest resources for
new capabilities and establish partnerships with cybersecurity companies, as well as
as soliciting experts at home and abroad to build a competitive
advantage.
Of the 35 respondents who responded to the
questionnaires of the cyberinsurance survey, it was observed that even though the
The cyber-market in Ghana was relatively young, it was growing at a steady pace
and, therefore, one could be misled into thinking that cybercrime was not widespread.
The research revealed that the level of
Awareness of cyber insurance policies was very low in Ghana, with only nine
respondents knowing the existence of such a policy.
Moreover, 62% of respondents did not know anything
cyber insurance policies, although 26% of them claimed that their business had been
subject to a form of cyber attack in the past, only 14% of them confirmed
that their companies had been insured against cybercrime.
Of the five respondents who said this,
four were in the banking sector and one in the education sector.
Again, 80% of the institutions surveyed
did not buy a cyberinsurance package. However, most of them had been
under a cyber attack.
Research revealed that 57% of
respondents recommended that cyberinsurance policies be mandatory for
entities in Ghana.
The report concluded that the majority of
institutions interviewed did not have an information security expert, which
showed the seriousness of the situation as it increased their risk
exposure because there would be no expert to advise them on the right
procedures to secure their data.
The report revealed that Ghana, Nigeria and
Cameroon was among the top 10 countries in the world for cybercrime, according to the publication
by the Ghana Business News in 2010.
Ms. Agyei Henneh presented some examples
forms of cyber-attacks as follows: credit card fraud, identity theft, fake gold
dealers and real estate frauds with Ghana Commercial Bank, Cal Bank and
Universal Merchant Bank being the small number of institutions affected in recent years
time.
She said another relatively new area being
operated by cyber-fraudsters was mobile money services with reports of
fraudulent activities conducted via mobile money platforms.
Ms. Agyei Henneh, so mentioned some
government interventions against cybercrime in the country,
including the 2008 Electronic Transactions Act, which contained
cybercrime and sentencing laws for cybercriminals, the
Protection Act (2012), to ensure the protection of government private data,
citizens and businesses.
In addition, the Ministry of Communications
deployed Ghana's national cybersecurity policy and strategy in March 2014,
which was formally adopted in 2016, in order to comprehensively capture cyber incidents
and secure cyberspace in Ghana.
Ms. Agyei Henneh said that the Bank of Ghana
published the document of the directive on security of information and cyber security in october
2018, which included a number of guidelines to be followed to ensure
cyber space in the financial sector.
"Ghana has also signed the African Union
Convention on Cyber Security and Protection of Personal Data and more recently
acceded to the Budapest Convention, "she added.
GNA
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