Let’s establish Ghana’s cyber security needs for five years - Communications Minister

The Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has tasked the Cyber Security Authority (CSA) to engage private sector actors to conduct research to establish Ghana’s cyber security workforce needs for the next five years.

She said findings from the research would support the government’s policy on cybersecurity skills development and capacity-building efforts in this critical sector of the digital economy.

Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful who gave the directive during the cyber-security forum as part of the National Cyber Security Awareness Month, in Accra yesterday, said, there was a growing demand for cyber security experts both locally and globally.

The forum which was on the theme “Ghana’s Cyber Security Act, 2020; Its Implications and the Role of Stakeholders” was aimed at introducing professionals and companies in the cyber security sector to the Cyber Security Act, 2020 (Act 1038).

The Cyber Security Act, 2020 (Act 1038) which is meant to regulate the cyber security industry in Ghana was passed on November 6, 2020, and was assented to by President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on December 29, 2020.

The minister explained that a study on the cyber security workforce needs of the country would help to determine the number of jobs opening in the cyber security sector and the workforce needed to fill that gap.

“There are many indications today that, demand for cybersecurity workers will continue to be high and the country cannot continue to depend on experts abroad to meet its cyber security workforce needs,” she said.

She entreated the training institutions in the country to offer courses on cyber security to help develop the skills of the youth in cyber security to address the cyber security workforce gap in the country.

The minister entreated about 189 cyber security organizations and companies in the country to recruit the appropriate professionals and put measures in place to protect their infrastructure since all cyber security installations had been designated as the national security infrastructure.

Touching on the Cyber Security Act, Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful said the promulgation of the act was to provide a robust legal framework to adequately cater for the protection of the country’s cyberspace and to provide a clear regulatory regime for the cyber security industry.

She commended the players as well as professionals in the cyber security industry for the immense role and inputs they made into the cyber law, adding that your efforts have contributed immensely to efforts made to secure Ghana’s digital journey.

The minister pledged that budgetary allocation would be made for the CSA to implement its programmes, adding that a Legislative Instrument was being drafted to help implement the cyber Security Act.

The Acting Director-General of the CSA, Dr. Albert Antwi-Boasiako, said while Cyber Security Act was the best in Africa and among the best globally,

among others, the Act highlights the protection of critical information infrastructure, provisions on incident reporting and response, provisions on licensing and accreditation, the recognition of the industry as a critical component of Ghana’s cyber security architecture.

Dr. Antwi-Boasiako appealed to the government to make yearly budgetary allocations to the Authority to help it execute its mandate effectively.

Some of the topics to be discussed at the programme included Cybersecurity Act, 2020 and its implications on Cybersecurity Service Providers and Professionals.