IST-Africa / IEEE ETAP Forum on CyberSecurity Report

20 July 2017

IST-Africa cooperated with IEEE Internet Initiative to co-organise the first IEEE ETAP (Experts in Technology and Policy) Forum in Africa focused on CyberSecurity as a pre-conference event to the IST-Africa 2017 Conference on Tuesday 30 May 2017. Click here to download the full report.

IST-Africa invited a range of speakers to share experiences from NEPAD, South Africa, Namibia and Cameroon:

- Welcome Remarks, Mr. Nhlanhla Lupahla, Deputy Director: Innovation, Ministry of Higher Education, Training and Innovation, Namibia on behalf of the Permanent Secretary

Mr Lupahla highlighted that it was extremely timely that IST-Africa cooperated with IEEE to organise the first IEEE Experts in Technology and Policy (ETAP) Forum on Cyber Security to take place in Africa. This has facilitated the participation of over 65 participants from the public, private, education and research and societal sector organisations across 26 countries to share knowledge, experiences and initiate working groups focused on priority issues. He summarised the significant progress that has been made in Africa over the last seven years in increasing Cyber Security awareness and putting the necessary legal and implementation frameworks in place.

- Cyber Security Awareness (CSA) in Africa, Prof Basie von Solms, Centre for Cyber Security, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

Prof von Solms provided insights into an Introductory Course for CyberSecurity Awareness that has been developed at the Centre for Cyber Security in University of Johannesburg. He encouraged the stakeholders from different sectors to distribute programs to increase cybersecurity awareness as an effective mechanism to reduce risk.

- Internet Governance and CyberSecurity in Namibia, Ms Elizabeth Kamutuezu, Acting Deputy Director: IPRM, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, Namibia

Elizabeth Kmautuzu provided insights into the steps taken to date in Namibia to address cyber security including establishing a Namibian Internet Governance Forum (IGF) working committee and a national CIRT. The Electronic Transaction and Cyber Crime Bill has been drafted. She highlighted the importance to get a balance between security and privacy.

- Cybersecurity and Multi- stakeholder Internet Governance - the case of the AU Convention on Cybersecurity, Dr. Towela Nyirenda-Jere, Principal Programme Officer, NEPAD Agency, South Africa

Dr Towela Nyirenda-Jere presented a case study on the African Union Convention on CyberSecurity and Protection of Personal Data (2014), which provides guidelines for electronic transactions, personal data protection, cybersecurity, and cyber crime. She highlighted that while Benin, Cape Verde, Comoros, Congo, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Sao Tome and Principe, and Zambia have signed the convention, ratifications have slow and fifteen are required for "entry into force."

- Implementation of a Framework to support CyberSecurity and Internet Governance in Cameroon, Njei Check, Agence Nationale des Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication, Cameroon

Njei Check provided insights into the legal and regulatory framework put in place in Cameroon, which includes awareness training and capacity building, CIRT, security audit, digital certification/public key infrastructure (PKI), and management of internet resources (-.cm and Internet Protocol addresses), as well as enactment of laws on electronic communications, cybersecurity, and cyber crime. He also outlined a series of next steps that Cameroon has planned to continue addressing cybersecurity and cyber crime.

Following the formal presentations the participants voted on a number of topic areas and selected five main topics to focus group work around:

- Combatting cyber crime while maximizing Internet inclusion for all

- Public awareness and education on Internet safety and cyber crime

- Trends in cyber attacks and cyber crime

- Data protection, privacy, and resilience in the era of Internet of Things (IoT)

- National CIRT development

Findings are summarised in the full report

The participants learnt a lot during this interactive knowledge sharing event and made contacts in other countries to continue this dialogue while they are supporting activities at national level.

The findings from this pre-conference event also fed into the CyberSecurity track during IST-Africa 2017 and in the Closing Plenary.