Countries should be aware of the importance of cyber security in operating an efficient and more effective national security programme.
This is according to speakers at a forum organised by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) this week.
They called on governments to work on a number of policy and legislative instruments to ensure cyber protection, along with legislative bills for freedom of information.
There was a view during the conference that although there were a range of technology solutions to cyber threats and cyber crime, the real teeth could only come from effective policies and legislation which would allow law enforcement officers a basis for taking quick action to fight cyber crime.
The speakers said cyber attacks have recently plagued some African governments where critical information has been siphoned through cyber break-ins.
The international conference on cyber security opened with more than 100 experts and stakeholders pledging their energies and commitments to finding lasting and sustainable policies and practices to curbing cyber attacks and managing general social threats in cyber space.
According to the CTO, participants discussed cyber issues such as critical information infrastructure protection, security in mobile channels, international cooperation, child abuse, identity fraud and general privacy on the net.
Speaking at the conference, Stephen Cutts, assistant secretary-general of the Commonwealth Secretariat, admitted that “cyber security is one of the greatest challenges of our time”. He said the challenge is posed to both developing and developed countries, as cyber crime knows no international boundaries.
He noted that with a huge number of businesses and transactions taking place online, and with more and more consumers putting trust in the Internet, it is also crucial that the proper mechanisms are instituted to ensure total data protection and general Web security.
Evolving tech
Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, head of the CTO, said the “world needs to acknowledge that we live in an information and knowledge age in which cyber societies are being created daily”.
In a welcome address, he acknowledged the vast nature of the subject of cyber security, especially in relation to the fact that ICT growth is increasing by the minute and more online communities are being created daily.
He said as ICT infrastructures and the use of ICT terminals and handsets penetrate deeper into rural populations, affecting all facets of human activity, cyber security is increasingly becoming important.
“From appointments with nurses and doctors for child immunisation, to obtaining market price information for farmers, and from checking examination results by students, to registering businesses online or for transferring cash to relatives, nearly six billion people in the world today are dependent in one form or the other on ICTs for their daily existence,” said Spio-Garbrah.
He also said ICTs are used not only for social communications but play a critical role in commerce and governance.
Spio-Garbrah also enumerated some of the CTO's achievements and touted the key role played by the organisation in helping Commonwealth and other countries make progress in their ICT developmental agenda.
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