Kumadoe Richard
The government’s plan to set up a National Cyber Security Centre has been commended by security and fraud management analyst Richard Kumadoe.
He said the establishment of the centre will make cyber crime, particularly terrorism that might be perpetrated using the country as the base, unattractive to criminals.
He told DAILY GUIDE yesterday that cyber-security issues are national security threats that should be given the utmost attention in the wake of the upsurge of cyber terrorism.
“Cyber terrorism is a new upsurge of terror that is only going to increase in profile as we rely on computer networks to relay information and provide connectivity to today’s modern and fast-paced world, and the effort to tackle this issue is commendable,” he noted.
He said the increasing reliance on computers and telecommunications in governance and business “has the highest potential to create a definite vulnerability which needs a proactive preventive national cyber security strategy.”
“In the information age, the value of our networks to national security, government, and business is increasing at a faster rate,” he said, adding “electrical grids, the banking system, water distribution, traffic management, communication systems, air traffic control, mass transit, military systems, etc. all tend to be operated in some sort of a networked fashion.”
Mr. Kumadoe observed that the ability of the financial institutions to move huge sums electronically across the globe “is vital to our economic wellbeing, a symbol of any nation’s wealth and power but any vulnerability of their network infrastructure can be exploited by cyber terrorists, fraudsters, hackers, eavesdroppers, disrupters and extortionists.”
“Criminals are deeply involved in sophisticated cybercrime activities such as identity theft, bank fraud, shady prescription medication sales, drugs, pornography, human trafficking, prostitution, credit card fraud, money laundering, and other nefarious activities and their expertise allows them to expand their virtual operations beyond ‘brick and mortar’ often making them cyber mercenaries.”
He said the cyber community in Ghana and the Sub-Saharan Africa Region must collaborate towards “mitigating the vulnerabilities through constant vigilance and taking all steps necessary to match the threat posed by cyber terrorism.”
He pointed out that a successful cyber-attack will produce a combined widespread interruption and disruption of key government and business-related activities with daunting financial implications, propaganda, economic warfare and a possible physical harm to innocent lives.
By William Yaw Owusu