Ghana’s cyber-security maturity at a formative level – Minister

Minister for Communications, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has described Ghana’s cyber-security maturity as steadily developing.

This is in relation to a Cyber-Security Maturity Model (CMM) study, commissioned by the Ministry of Communications and conducted by the Global Security Capacity Centre (GSCC) of the University of Oxford in collaboration with the World Bank.

Speaking at the launch of this year’s National Cyber-Security Awareness Month in Accra on Monday, the Minister said the critical elements of the maturity assessment were public awareness of cyber risks and cyber-crime trends.

According to her, a key finding of the study is the ‘trusting’ nature of Ghanaians which permeates every aspect of our lives, which she noted, as a weakness being exploited and abused by cyber-criminals.

‘’The Safer Digital Ghana campaign seeks to build upon the ongoing efforts aimed at securing Ghana’s digital journey and the goal of this initiative is to encourage a safer digital citizenship at all levels including, children, public, business and government,’’ she emphasised.



Government’s key cyber-security policies

Urusula Owusu-Ekuful said as part of government’s effort to strengthen the country’s cyber security ecosystem, it has established the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) to oversee and coordinate national cyber security interventions and initiatives.

She added, other interventions of government include the development of the Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) as well as the yearly organization of the national cyber security awareness campaign.



The Minister said these initiatives are expected to increase the understanding and awareness of cyber risks and to empower the public to live a responsible and safer digital life.