He has, therefore, stressed the need to establish various structures and protocols that would set security flexibility and a national forensic laboratory to help address the challenge.

Mr Antwi-Boasiako was speaking at a workshop which was organised by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) to deliberate on cyber security issues in the country, network shutdowns in Africa and the way forward in Accra last Thursday. 

Participants included stakeholders of the foundation, including the media.

Cyber insecurity

Mr Antwi-Boasiako noted that actions had been taken by the government and stakeholders to address cyber security challenges. However, he said, significant gaps remained in addressing the country’s cyber security vulnerabilities.

He attributed the cause of cybercrime to numerous reasons, ranging from weak regulations to the new unhealthy environment.

“Torrent websites have been visited by many smartphone users, which pose virus threats to the users,” he said.

Hinting on the current state of cyber security, Mr Antwi-Boasiako said cybercrime, such as fake news, e-payment threats, ransomware development and social media threats had inwardly attacked institutions in the country, including the banks.

“Recently, the country lost €2 million as a result of cybercrime. We need to review the cyber systems to bring them to standard operating procedure,” he added.

Cases

According to him, statistics from his outfit in 2016 indicated that 618 cases were reported with 143 phishing attacks, followed by email hacking and cyber fraud with 88 and 58 cases respectively.

That notwithstanding, he said, ransomware attack had been reported globally in May 2017.

He, therefore, called for a multi-cyber dimensional role which includes monitoring and evaluation to deal with the risks and vulnerabilities of the cyber security in the country, adding “Cyber security is not only a technological problem but a social issue.”

Network disruption

The Programme Manager of MFWA, Ms Dora B. Mawutor, said network disruption deprived people of their basic rights to information and as a result, it should be dealt with to prevent its reoccurrence in the country.