Cyber Security Authority critical to country’s devt — Joseph Cudjoe

The Minister for Public Enterprises, Joseph Cudjoe, has indicated that the increasing rate of cyber attacks on critical infrastructure across the globe makes the mandate of the Cyber Security Authority (CSA) the most vital institution of the state to digitalise all sectors of the economy.

 According to him, the CSA was clothed with the mandatory powers to support and safeguard the country from the risks that were associated with all digitalised economies.

The minister said this last Friday when he paid a working visit to the management and staff of CSA to interact with and learn firsthand, the operations of the authority as part of his scheduled visits to 175 state-owned enterprises in the country.

Exercise

Commenting on the ongoing regulatory exercise of the CSA, the minister pledged to work through the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA) to ensure that after September 30, 2023, only licensed and accredited cyber security service providers and professionals would be allowed to provide cyber security services for public sector institutions in the country.

He noted that the country had a collective responsibility to ensure that critical information infrastructure were protected from cyber attacks.

collaboration

Mr Cudjoe expressed his excitement about the level of collaboration the country was enjoying through the memoranda of understanding signed by the CSA with other African countries.

That, he said, placed the country on the continental radar, affirming that the move was within the context of the larger African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) objective of promoting the development of the cyber security industry by bringing the countries on the African countries on a common platform.

As part of strategic planning efforts, the minister charged all government institutions as well as private sector institutions that performed critical roles for the state to develop cyber security policies, based on the Directive on the Protection of Critical Information Infrastructure launched by the government in 2021, in conformity with Section 35 of the cyber security Act, 2020 (Act 1038).

Recognising the CSA’s role as a revenue-protecting agency as opposed to a revenue-generating agency, Mr Cudjoe pledged the government’s commitment to ensuring that the authority was well-resourced to protect the interests of the state, given the critical nature of its mandate.

He stressed that enhancing systems and building capacity of CSA staff must be a continuous process as the modus operandi of cyber criminals was constantly evolving.  

Commending the Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, for her visionary leadership which had manifested in the giant leaps taken by the authority, Mr Cudjoe emphasised the importance of operationalising the cyber security Fund pursuant to Section 29 of the Cyber security Act, 2020 (Act 1038), to surmount any form of impediments to achieving the authority’s mandate.

Applause

The Director-General of the CSA, Dr Albert Antwi-Boasiako, applauded the minister for his in-depth knowledge and understanding of cyber security matters, stressing that the mandate of the authority as established by the Cyber Security Act 2020, (Act 1038) was to be a revenue-protecting institution.

According to Dr Antwi-Boasiako, the success of the authority should be measured by the numerous interventions made to foil potential attacks on state institutions and their people.

He added that the cyber security/ cybercrime Incident Reporting Points of Contact (POC), which was launched in 2018, had become a major means of preventing many Ghanaians and businesses from becoming victims of cybercrime.

According to Dr Antwi-Boasiako, any attempt to compare the achievements of CSA in monetary terms would be an affront and a deviation from its mandate.

He added that as a specialised and evolving industry, the state stood to gain if it was able to motivate and retain committed and dedicated staff of the CSA.