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Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister of Communications and Digitization
Ms Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister of Communications and Digitization, reiterated the government’s commitment to activities aimed at strengthening Ghana’s cybersecurity framework.
“The government, as the cybersecurity facilitator, will continue to make the necessary efforts, including the relevant budget allocations to support our national cybersecurity development activities,” she said.
The minister gave the assurance on Friday during the official launch of National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) 2021, the Cyber Security Authority (CSA) and the Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) Directive.
The theme for this year’s National Cyber Security Awareness Month is “Ghana Cyber Security Act 2020: Its Implications and Role of Stakeholders”.
Ms Owusu-Ekuful said the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2020 indicated that damage from cybercrime could reach $ 6 trillion, an amount equivalent to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the world’s third-largest economy. .
She said it was therefore important that Ghana took adequate measures to safeguard its cyber ecosystem and urged stakeholders to play their role in ensuring the achievement of the goal.
According to the World Economic Forum, cyberattacks against ITCs rank fifth among risks in 2020.
Ms Owusu-Ekuful said Ghana was among the few African countries to formalize ITC protection, a step that would protect the country’s investments in digitization developments and ensure it reap all the digital dividends associated with transformation. digital.
The minister said that the fact that Ghana is embarking on this new journey does not imply the nation’s immunity to cyber attacks and that the nation is more prone to cyber attacks now that it is expanding the various channels. and digital platforms – both in the public and private sectors.
Energy Minister Matthew Opoku Prempeh said that due to the growing threats lurking in cyberspace, Energy Ministry staff have received training to better understand the topic.
The minister said cybersecurity was a cross-sectoral issue, which required interdisciplinary collaborations to make it effective.
Dr Albert Antwi-Boasiako, national cybersecurity adviser, said that in October 2017, Ghana adopted a multisectoral governance structure for its national cybersecurity, leading to the establishment of the National Interdepartmental Advisory Council on Cybersecurity and the Task Force. national technical work on cybersecurity. (NCSTWG).
This architecture, he said, had been replicated in other sectors of the country and continued to serve as a national benchmark in cybersecurity governance for a number of African countries, more than five of which had requested assistance. direct to Ghana to set up similar structures.
Mr Antwi-Boasiako said Ghana has also embarked on a journey to protect children on the internet in collaboration with UNICEF and that in 2019 alone, the initiative has reached more than 40,000 students in the 16 regions of the country.
“This model of outreach has been praised around the world, serving as a model for other countries. The ECOWAS Commission asked Ghana to lead the development of cybersecurity in the sub-region and in 2018, under the sponsorship of the World Bank, more than 50 representatives from all ECOWAS countries visited Ghana to learn from our experiences, ”he said.
He said that with the passage of the cybersecurity law, the country has demonstrated forward-thinking leadership in cybersecurity, with Ghana now the first in Africa to respond to cybersecurity challenges by through regulations.
Bank of Ghana Senior Vice Governor Dr Maxwell Opoku-Afari said analysts had predicted that the next financial shock or shock to the global economy could manifest in the form of a cyberattack, as Such, Ghana needed to think about how to secure and protect its infrastructure.
He said successful cyber attacks against computer systems and networks supporting critical national assets and infrastructure could wreak significant havoc on citizens’ way of life, lead to financial losses, undermine public confidence and significantly disrupt the economy.
Dr Opoku-Afari said Ghana’s failure to put in place policies to protect bank infrastructure from attack could destroy the very foundations of growth with national security implications.
He said that globally, cyber attacks against digitized payment products are becoming increasingly sophisticated, especially against financial institutions whose computer systems are insecure.
“We have witnessed global cyber attacks, which have disrupted some critical financial services and destroyed financial assets and economies. It is therefore important to ensure that the security of electronic banking products and services is not compromised, ”he said.
Ms. Stephanie S. Sullivan, Ambassador of the United States of America to Ghana, commended the government for its continued efforts in creating a secure cyber ecosystem through a security governance initiative and for passing the law. on cybersecurity 2020.
She said the United States will continue to support Ghana to fight cybercrime.
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