The African continent is hit by daily hacks. And as with all regions of the world, cybercrime is detrimental to economic development. The Cyber Africa Forum is investigating this scourge on June 7 in Abidjan.
In Africa and elsewhere, criminal organizations or government agencies are increasing computer attacks on critical digital infrastructure in many countries. Shameless cyberbooters are exploiting the Covid-19 epidemic into ransom hospitals already weakened by the health crisis or hacked financial institutions.
It is to stop this torment that International Cyber Security Forum meet African and international cyber security actors and experts in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on 7 June. The event is highly protected by Roger Adom, Minister of Digital Economy in Côte d’Ivoire and is supported by ECOWAS, among others. It brings together political decision-makers, delegates from major banking or telecommunications groups, IT defense experts and civil society representatives.
Significant financial losses
These meetings aim to place cyber threats at the center of development issues. This represents a large share for the whole of Africa, which must preserve and protect an economic growth that has long been driven by digital technology and shared by most African countries, specifies Franck Kié, expert and consultant on e-government issues and organizer of the “event: “Most threats benefit from ignorance of the problem and therefore from human weaknesses. One of the first solutions is to raise public awareness so that as many people as possible are aware of these risks that weigh on all African economic systems. Today, we are talking about $ 1 trillion in economic damage attributable to cybercrime worldwide and $ 4 billion in losses to Africa with these computer attacks that have become more and more sophisticated. “
Between January and August 2020, 28 million sophisticated computer attacks were launched across the continent. Most have come to an end. Among the favorite targets of hackers, financial institutions, 85% victims of these attacks, then government databases and finally electronic trademarks that have enabled all African countries to develop a rapidly growing digital economy.
What does?
“Our states must therefore very quickly set up governance structures to deal with this scourge when they do not exist, to introduce legislation or at least to strengthen it so that it becomes effective. But African governments must also invest heavily in infrastructure and training specialists in “Today, there are around 3.5 million people skilled in cybersecurity worldwide. In Africa, these professionals are only around 10,000. This represents a real gap that must now be bridged in order to acquire the means to fight cybercrime.” , appreciates Franck Kié.
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