Cyber-Crime to Cost Ghana $100m in 2018

An information security expert has told Citi Business News that Ghanaian businesses stand to lose 100 million dollars from cyber-crime in 2018, if pragmatic measures are not put in place to minimize it.

According to a Managing Partner at cyber security firm, Delta 3 International, Del Aden, the incident of cyber crime in Ghana will continue to rise unless businesses put effective counter measures in place.

He added that with increased digitization, the risks related to cyber security naturally increases.

“Unfortunately, organizations in Ghana are not immune to these risks, as such business leaders must take active steps to improve their organization’s readiness for these kinds of threats,” he said.

A report released by Kenyan-based IT firm, Serianu Limited, revealed that Ghana’s economy lost a total of US$50 million to cyber-crime in 2016.

Speaking to Citi Business News on the sidelines of the 4th edition of the Ghana Cyber Security Workshop, Mr. Aden reiterated that government must get involved to direct the fight against cyber crime.

“Businesses in Ghana stand to lose nearly 100 million dollars to cyber crime. That’s why everyone needs to sit up and implement effective measures of counter cyber crime,” he warned.

He observed that public institutions as well as financial institutions in the country are at a high risk of being attacked.

“Organizations that are normally attacked, like financial and public institutions, normally experience system disruptions and loss of money. Companies then spend a lot of man-hours in trying to recover lost information and also restore affected systems,” he said.

“If you have one company spending a few thousands and others spending similar amounts in reaction to cyber attacks, you’ll eventually realize that companies can lose millions in 2018,” he added.

Since its inception last year, Delta 3 have succeeded in training over five hundred employees from various organizations in Ghana.

The 4th edition of the Ghana Cyber Security Awareness Workshop was organized by Delta 3 International, a UK listed expert in I.T Solutions Architecture, Cyber Security and Risk mitigation.

The company focuses mainly on working with governments and businesses in Europe and Africa to protect their brand and value against the eve-evolving threat of cyber crime.

The company’s workshop was used to raise awareness about the need for corporate Ghana to take the subject of employee training on cyber security seriously.

The occasion was used to address the broader issue of Cybercrime in Digital Africa, as well as specific issues like Social Engineering, Ransomware, Identity Theft, Phishing among others.

Delta 3 International is set to hold two more Workshops this year. The first of which is an Incident Response Workshop on 20th March, 2108 and a Data Protection / Business Continuity Workshop on 19th April, 2018.