Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, says Ghana has made significant progress in internet penetration in the last five years.
The Groupe Special Mobile Association’s Connectivity Index’s 2023 Report scored Ghana 86.69 per cent in Online Security and ranked it third in Africa with a score of 51.4 per cent.
She said the INTERPOL Global Crime Trend Summary Report of 2022 highlighted
ransomware, phishing, online scams, and hacking as significant threats worldwide.
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said this in a speech read on her behalf Madam Ama Pomaa Boateng, the Deputy Minister for Communications and Digitalization in Accra at the 2023 National Cybersecurity Awareness Month in Accra on the theme: “Promoting a Culture of Digital Safety.”
This year’s event is to promote a culture of cybersecurity among children, the youth, and Ghanaians in general about the importance of digital safety, online risk, and potential consequences of unsafe digital practices and to encourage the reporting of cybercrimes and cybersecurity incidents.
It is also to highlight the importance of cultivating collective mindset and behaviour that values and promotes responsible online practices, cybersecurity awareness and the protection of personal information.
The Minister said the reports were evidence of the risks that accompanied the opportunities presented by digital space, and we could not gloss over their devastating impact on the nation.
These developments, as well as several others, within cyberspace across the world, have collectively informed the choice of the theme for this year’s event.
She said this year’s event was expected to help create synergy between public and private sector stakeholder groups to intensify awareness about the importance of cybersecurity and the inherent risks associated with it.
The Minister said the accumulation of the knowledge shared through this year’s event would help the public, businesses, and government appreciate the ongoing work of the Cyber Security Authority, such as the need to protect the country’s Critical Information Infrastructure.
The Authority has taken several key measures, including the establishment of a Directive for the Protection of Critical Information Infrastructure (CCI), which highlights the baseline cybersecurity requirements, incident response and reporting mechanisms, as well as audit and compliance procedures for all designated CII owners.
