Cybersecurity is vital to Africa’s economic development. Strong cybersecurity not only attracts foreign investment, but also helps Africa maximize the benefits of digitization, promoting inclusive growth and prosperity.
The National Informatics Agency NITA has partnered with SmartInfraco and Trend Micro to strengthen cyber security for government agencies with virus protection services. The agreement, signed on April 24 in Accra by Richard Okyere-Fosu, Director General of NITA, together with Mazen Al-Adhami of Trend Micro and Harkirit Singh, CEO of Smart Infraco, seeks to deliver cyber security solutions, protecting the digital landscape from potential threats.
Richard Okyere-Fosu highlighted the agency’s cyber security efforts, noting anti-virus services as a critical missing element as only about 30% of government systems are equipped with adequate anti-virus programs, which is significant risk to the country’s digitization agenda. “In the face of such risks, NITA as part of our mandate has worked in recent years with public and private sector partners to develop a range of interventions to address information and cyber security generally across the public sector. », he explained.
The antivirus services offered through this partnership will maintain system integrity and prevent cybersecurity incidents by addressing significant gaps in antivirus coverage in government systems.
Mazen Al-Adhami and Harkirit Singh expressed their dedication to providing comprehensive cybersecurity solutions to government organizations, including endpoint and email security measures.
Ghana is ranked third (3rd) in Africa and 43rd globally in the Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) 2020 report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The country is one of the few African countries with a national cyber security strategy and national incident response capabilities. However, it is subject to cyber incidents that cause significant disruptions to business and the economy. In September 2021, a vpnMentor research team, led by Noam Rotem and Ran Locar, revealed that 700,000 people in Ghana had their data compromised, totaling 55 GB, exposing them to risks such as fraud, hacking and identity theft . This not only endangered the individuals affected, but also posed significant threats to Ghana’s institutions and government.
The signing ceremony marks an important step towards enforcing security compliance and safeguarding government data and infrastructure to accelerate Ghana’s digitization efforts.
Hikmatu Bilali