[ad_1]
Namibia’s cybersecurity sector will receive a further boost with the establishment of the Namibian Computer Security Response Team (CSIRT) by the end of this year.
The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology has confirmed that the National Security and Cyber Incident Response Team (CSIRT) will be operational by the end of this year.
The CSIRT is part of a comprehensive national cybersecurity plan that will come into effect from 2022. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the ministry launched the National Cybersecurity Strategy and Awareness Plan for 2022-2027, which is divided into two parts: the National Cybersecurity Strategy and the Cybersecurity Awareness Plan.
The strategy outlines the ministry’s plans to create a safe cyberspace for Namibians and proposes measures to strengthen critical infrastructure in response to the increasing number of cyber attacks in recent years.
The ministry cited findings from various sources as background for developing a national cybersecurity strategy.
Safety
Kaspersky’s website ranked Namibia 119th among the countries that suffered cyber attacks in March 2020.
The ministry said the most common cyberattacks at the time were encryption-related attacks, mobile network attacks and ransomware attacks. The most common targets of cyberattacks were the education sector, government agencies and the communications sector.
The national cybersecurity strategy document states: “Technology platforms must be protected and the most vulnerable populations made aware and informed of the dangers of the internet.”
The African Union Commission also released a report examining cyber threats in Africa, which identified smartphones and the internet, encryption ransomware and social mechanisms used by cybercriminals to trick victims into revealing sensitive information as the main threats.
Right of use
When the cybersecurity strategy was developed, Namibia already had more than 2.7 million active mobile users, Internet usage reached 96% of Namibians, and 3G broadband connections covered 75% of the Namibian population.
A UN survey showed that mobile device usage was over 100%, meaning there were more devices in use than people. The ministry attributed this to the low cost of mobile devices and the availability of mobile services in Namibia.
Between 2016 and 2018, wireless broadband usage in Namibia grew from 32.4% to 64.9%, higher than the sub-Saharan African average (39% of the population had access to broadband during the same period). The number of internet users in Namibia more than doubled during that period, from 14.84% to 31.03%.
labor
The 2018 Namibian Labour Force Survey showed that employment in the information and communications technology industry has grown by 20% since 2016.
The survey also showed that the industry was the fourth highest paying in the country at the time. However, in 2019, the industry contributed only 1.4% to the gross domestic product.
The ministry also found that there is a gender wage gap in the industry. The average salary for men is N17,192 while the average salary for women is N16,967.
[ad_2]
Source link
