Gaborone To Host Conference On Cyber Security
Keikantse Lesemela | Monday February 23, 2015 13:07
Themed “is Botswana ready for cyber attacks”, the conference will look at how Botswana sees the digital space and security and cyber threats as well as providing solutions.
Briefing the media on Friday, Metrotech marketing and sales manager, Antonette Ncube said the conference’s mission is to establish a multi-stakeholder consortium that brings together industry, Government and academic interest, in an effort to improve the state of cyber security at both domestic and international levels.
“We are living in a connected world, so cyber security affects everyone. It is important to create awareness and educate the public and enterprise market about cyber security,” said Ncube. The conference will be held on March 19. Ncube highlighted that cyber attacks are becoming common cases in Botswana.
“We are seeing cyber attacks happening in some organisations, so we need to collaborate as security networks and find solutions to stop this problem. Organisations need to secure their networks,” said Ncube. Recently there have been a number of cyber attacks in local organisations including; Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) website, Mmegi website and the Ngakaagae & Mbikiwa Legal Practice law firm’s.
Ncube explained that it is important for organisations to secure their networks to give the consumers confidence to use ICT services such as online banking and e-Government services.
“Consumers must be educated on malicious software floating on the Internet,” she said. Metrotech Chief Information Officer Phutego Chere said cyber attacks are frequently happening nowadays but organisations’ networks do not have cyber security. “Currently we have seen some organisations’ networks being hacked but we do not have the network security personnel in our organisations.
“Hence, we need to educate Batswana about cyber attacks and security,” he said.