The Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation will this year operationalize the National Cyber Security Authority as part of the country’s digitalisation effort.

Parliament passed the Cybersecurity Act 2020 in November 2020, which establishes the Cyber Security Authority.

The Authority is expected to among other things protect the critical information infrastructure of the country, regulate cybersecurity activities and provide protection for children on the internet.

Speaking at the Joint Freedom Online Coalition event between Ghana, Finland and Germany in Accra on Tuesday, Communications and Digitalisation Minister, Ursula Owusu Ekuful said the ministry is working to operationalize the National Cyber Security Authority as part of the country’s digitalisation efforts.

“As we digitalize, we need to focus on the security aspect of our digital interventions, otherwise we leave all our digital infrastructural systems and applications dangerously exposed to attacks by cybercriminals. So it’s a matter of absolute priority for the government that we scale up our national security effort. That is why we worked so hard to pass the law because there was no enabling comprehensive legislation to regulate this area and a lot was happening, but it’s as if it was a no man’s land so now that we have the law in place, we are working to operationalize the National Cyber Security Authority this year”, she said.

The internet continues to have a plethora of benefits including the facilitation of knowledge and skill enhancement, convenience, financial opportunities and acting as a critical component of socio-economic growth.

While the country makes efforts to harness the benefits of the cyberspace by digitalising every sector of the economy, it is imperative for the government to focus its attention on the possible attendant threats that accompany it by scaling up cybersecurity.

The minister added that, among other things, the ministry is in talks with the Finance Ministry to create a fund for the Cyber Security Authority as mandated by the law.

“The law also makes provision for a cybersecurity fund. We are working with the Ministry of Finance to activate this as well. We’re in the process of securing office accommodation for them, providing them with the training and capacity building they need, hiring locally and internationally Ghanaian expatriates in this sector to come and help with our digital security initiative, so we were busy, but we’re still in the formative stage of giving effect to the law,” she added.