By Iddi Yire, GNA
Accra, Oct 25, GNA – Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the Minister of Communications, has encouraged young people to invest in building their capacities within the cyber security space to secure sustainable jobs, saying there are inadequate specialists in that field.
She said banks, insurance companies, government agencies, corporate organisations and many other organisations needed in-house information cyber security professionals, emphasising that, « That is an opportunity right there for the youth ».
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said this at the inauguration of the state-of-the-art Cyber Training Laboratory at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra.
She said the growth of the Information Technology sub-sector, including the introduction of e-payment platforms and products, the paperless port system, e-learning, and others, had opened up Ghana’s economy to the international world.
She pointed out that this development had also made the system attractive to cybercriminals; stating that the growing cyber-threat on the landscape as the nation was experiencing was, therefore, expected.
The modern Cyber Training Laboratory is a project 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.
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said it was important to prepare adequately to protect Ghana’s Critical National Infrastructure, sensitive information and data, as well as the people against activities of cybercriminals.
She, therefore, lauded e-Crime Bureau and the KAIPTC for the initiative, saying it was a significant example of a public-private collaboration to build a cyber-resilient digitised economy and processes devoid of cyber-attacks.
Air Vice Marshall Griffiths S. Evans, Commandant, KAIPTC, said the collaboration had successfully executed certificates programmes in cyber security and digital forensics.
Recently, a cyber security course, targeted at chief executive officers and management members of organisations was introduced.
He explained that this was to ensure a deeper appreciation of the issue of cyber security and to engender full commitment at management level for effective implementation of strategies against cybercrime in organisations.
He said in line with this year’s theme for the National Cyber Security Awareness Month, « A safer Digital Ghana », they were confident that the facility was a great stepping stone towards ensuring that requisite knowledge and skills to counter threats of cyber criminals were guaranteed.
The Commandant said the KAIPTC and e-Crime Bureau would continue to provide leadership and support to institutions to develop the requisite skills needed to address the cyber security challenges.
Mr Philemon Hini, Head of Technical Operation at e-Crime Bureau, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency said they identified a gap in terms of cyber security and digital forensics in the country, hence the establishment of a Centre to provide the relevant industrial courses to fill the gap.
He said the e-Crime Bureau currently thus with the KAIPTC, were providing support to institutions across industry, including security/law enforcement, banking, production and manufacturing, mining, oil and gas.
He said the collaboration was also intended to undertake research and initiate projects in the industry in Ghana and within the West African Sub Region.
GNA
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