BY HAFTU GEBREZGABIHER
The Information Network Security Administration (INSA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with 8 universities across the country which could enable them jointly engaged in research and development in the field of cyber security research, capacity building and talent development.
The Universities that have signed an agreement with INSA are; Gondar University, Hawassa University, Arba Minch University, Bahir Dar University, Haramaya University, Adama Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University and the Ethiopian Defense University.
According to Solomon Soka, Director General of INSA, who was present at the signing program, the MoU document focuses on three key fundamentals. Accordingly, it is aimed to produce a qualified workforce in the field of cyber security with the higher education institutions, to facilitate the possible exchange of research and research findings in the universities and to support and produce young people with special talent in the field of cyber security.
Similarly, the representatives of the higher education institutions who attended the signing program pointed out that there are educational programs and centers in their respective institutions in the field of information and technology, and expressed their cooperation with INSA on cyber security research and development of cyber talent would be a great opportunity for them.
There is increasing likelihood for cyber weapons to be used to achieve political and other conflict objectives in Africa. Projects or political and economic agendas like the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam that bring out strong nationalistic sentiments might see citizens take it upon themselves to be involved in the conflict through the use of cyber-attacks, since cyber weapons are easily and affordably accessible to individuals and groups, research analysis by GEFONA digital foundation indicated.
“It is therefore imperative that African governments commit resources to develop cyber capabilities in their defense forces in order to prepare for the future of conflict in the region. Direction and leadership will be required from the African Union. Even as they’ve kicked off the campaign on “Silencing the Guns in Africa by 2020”, they must realize the possibility of conflicts in the region being taken to cyberspace after fighters lay down their guns. Hopefully, the newly formed AU Cybersecurity Expert Group provides this leadership.”
And like in other areas of defense policy, deterrence should play a key role in cyber defense. Attackers, especially non-state actors must be made to believe that there is sufficient indication of the State’s ability to respond to attacks. This of course relies on the evidence of cyber capacity, research and development. Therefore, African states must begin to demonstrate their commitment to cyber security efforts, because the prosperity of Africa and the safety of her people depend on it.
Africa’s reliance on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for development is growing exponentially. Due to very poor basic infrastructure and to close the large gap of unbanked adults on the continent, Africa has looked to digitization for solutions. Unfortunately, this reliance on digital infrastructure opens new vulnerabilities and national defense, according to various findings.
As per the CyberCrime Magazine, if it were measured as a country, then cybercrime — which is predicted to inflict damages totaling $6 trillion USD globally in 2021 — would be the world’s third-largest economy after the U.S. and China.
Cybersecurity Ventures expects global cybercrime costs to grow by 15 percent per year over the next five years, reaching $10.5 trillion USD annually by 2025, up from $3 trillion USD in 2015. This represents the greatest transfer of economic wealth in history, risks the incentives for innovation and investment, is exponentially larger than the damage inflicted from natural disasters in a year, and will be more profitable than the global trade of all major illegal drugs combined.
The damage cost estimation is based on historical cybercrime figures including recent year-over-year growth, a dramatic increase in hostile nation-state sponsored and organized crime gang hacking activities, and a cyberattack surface which will be an order of magnitude greater in 2025 than it is today.
Cybercrime costs include damage and destruction of data, stolen money, lost productivity, theft of intellectual property, theft of personal and financial data, embezzlement, fraud, post-attack disruption to the normal course of business, forensic investigation, restoration and deletion of hacked data and systems, and reputational harm.
The U.S. has a total employed cybersecurity workforce consisting of nearly 925,000 people, and there are currently almost 510,000 unfilled positions, according to Cyber Seek, a project supported by the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE), a program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Thus, this shows that there is high need for increasing the cyber security experts that necessitates for the MoU.
Faced with a domestic worker shortage, the heads of U.S. cyber defense forces — CIOs and CISOs at America’s mid-sized to largest businesses — are beginning to augment their staff with next-generation AI and ML (machine learning) software and appliances aimed at detecting cyber intruders. These AI systems are trained on big data sets collected over decades — and they can analyze terabytes of data per day, a scale unimaginable for humans.
The panacea for a CISO is an AI system resembling a human expert’s investigative and reporting techniques so that cyber threats are remediated BEFORE the damage is done.
If enemies are using AI to launch cyberattacks, then our country’s businesses need to use AI to defend themselves.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 12 AUGUST 2022
