Government to develop standards for certification of cybersecurity practitioners

• Cybersecurity taskforce tasked to undertake research within five years

• Ursula Owusu-Ekuful identified a number of needs for the cybersecurity workforce

• Ghana’s cybersecurity Act 2020 was passed by the seventh parliament

Government through the National Cybersecurity Authority has commenced plans to develop standards for the certification of cybersecurity practitioners and

Read full articleexperts in Ghana.

According to Minister for Communications, Ursula Owusu Ekuful, the move which forms part of the Cybersecurity Act 2020, passed by the seventh Parliament, is critical to ensuring that the industry is well sanitized and regulated.

“In view of the anticipated need for cybersecurity workforce in the country, I have tasked the Cyber Security Authority to engage with you – the private sector actors to conduct research to establish Ghana’s cybersecurity workforce needs for the next five years. Findings from such research will support government policy on cybersecurity skills development and capacity building efforts in this critical sector of our digital economy,” Ursula Owusu-Ekuful said.

“There are many indications today that demand for cybersecurity workers will continue to be high. All organisations need to understand is the threat on environment and the risks they face, address their cybersecurity problems, and hire the most appropriate people to do that work,” the minister added.

The Communications and Digitilisation minister noted there is currently a lack of skilled jobs in the cybersecurity space for many young persons to take advantage of hence the need for the development of standards and certification to address this challenge.