Africa Cyber Defence Summit 2018: Nairobi, Kenya.

Africa, having been greatly affected by cybersecurity issues in 2017, has bundled up all energy to put the cybersecurity discussion on the table. The largest cyber defence gathering in Africa commenced in Nairobi, Kenya on Monday, 9th July 2018. The 2-day summit with the theme “Accelerating Africa’s Cyber Security Dialogue” gathered over 750 delegates from across Africa and partners across the globe.
The summit is critical for the Africa region as there is a need to address cyber attacks. Reports from 2017 indicate that African countries incurred huge losses as a result of cybercrime. Kenya and Nigeria were considerably affected with 21.2 and 65.5 Billion loss respectively. Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana followed closely. Read more
ICT Cabinet Secretary (Kenya), Joe Mucheru in his statement had earlier highlighted the importance of collaboratively tackling cybersecurity issues. “Technology has become a key economic enabler for African nations. The rate at which internet and mobiles have penetrated into the continent in the recent past is phenomenal. Amidst these exciting developments, it is imperative to address the challenges of cybersecurity collaboratively and to protect our critical infrastructures, as well as to ensure that sensitive information and data are secured.”
Some of the areas up for discussion include Africa cybersecurity challenge, separating IT and information security, the future of privacy and security & cybersecurity from a banker’s perspective. The summit will also be tackling ransomware in Africa and the role of academia in cybersecurity among others.
There are about 30 confirmed speakers among them; Dr Katherine Getao, ICT Secretary, Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology, Kenya; Mr Francis Wangusi, Director General, Communications Authority, Kenya; Dr Kasirim Nwuke, Chief – New Technologies & Innovation, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Ethiopia.
It has become clear that cybersecurity is no longer an option but a necessity. Every organization should take part in identifying gaps in cybersecurity at the organization level and build a capacity to address the gaps.