Ghana Loses About $60m Annually Through Cyber Fraud

Ghana loses between 30 to 60 million dollars yearly through internet and other forms of cyber fraud.

This is particularly as a result of hacking into banks and cash transfers.

Mr. Kojo De Graft, cybersecurity expert with 3T Solutions Consulting, a global and business integration company made this known during the presentation of a report titled; “2017 West Africa Cybersecurity Indexing and Assessment Report,”.

He said “What makes the situation even more alarming is that there is lower level of knowledge by actors in the banking industry and mobile telecommunication, in most cases of how thieves and criminals operate to swindle the unwary.

The report was compiled by a team from 3T Solutions Consulting, Florida, USA and presented to the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), Legon.

The company’s 12-month report covering July 2016 to June 2017, examined the cyber security situation in Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia and Gambia.

Mr. De Graft, the leader of the three- member team said “One of the main reasons 3T Solutions Consulting embarked on this 12-month project was to create awareness of the menace of cyber threats to business and governments in West Africa using locale-specific data.

“We also wanted to make available specific cyber security knowledge for West Africa.”

Mr. De Graft expressed a strong need to bring cybersecurity awareness into the open, observing rather that “Cybersecurity is mostly seen as IT departments issue or Government issue and most institutions defer to the IT department on this menace.”

He said Cybersecurity is a global problem, adding that the menace could be dealt with emphatically by regions and that the threats faced around the world were all different and could be solved regionally by coalition of academic and business partnerships.

It called on the governments, the academia, and the banking sector among others to invest heavily in cybersecurity to avert the operations of cyber criminals.

“We hope with this report to start changing mindset that cybersecurity is everyone’s concern; that is when real awareness and clarity of the enormity of the issue can be addressed,” Mr. De Graft said.

Source: thePublisher