“Cyber crime has become extremely pervasive since the invention of the Internet.   In Ghana, many people associate phenomena with Sakawa, which is Internet fraud or scamming. However, cyber crime goes beyond Internet fraud, it could also involve the hacking of networks, which could destroy a nation’s critical infrastructure. The perpetrators of cyber crime,

which have become very sophisticated, so there is the need to protect our Internet resources by waging warfare against them,” said Prof Nii Narku Quaynor.

Prof Quaynor, made these remarks at social night, which he chaired a social gathering organised by the Ghana Chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC) under the theme, Internet Security and the National Effort.  It was attended by about 50 people from ISOC members, government, civil society, industry and academia.

Reiterating the importance of protecting our critical infrastructure, Mr. Daniel Asante, coordinator of the Ghana Computer Emergency Response Team (ghCERT) informed the gathering that ghCERT was partnering with government agencies, ghNOG, ISOC Ghana, GhNIC and other organisations to create awareness on Internet security issues and how some of the incidences can be prevented.  He however, said that because of the pervasive nature of the Internet, it was difficult to track down on the perpetrators and that everyone was obligated to protect the Internet against anti-social acts.

An interesting question that came up for discussion was how much security was needed to prevent the cyber crime.  While one school was of the thought that security was extremely necessary and that policies should be put in place to curb cyber crime, another was of the opinion that, the more security, the less friendly the Internet becomes, since the Internet is a network of networks and used by a large number of people.

Adding on to the debate, Prof. Quaynor said that technology keeps changing very rapidly and policies very quickly become obsolete.  Moreover, policies on Internet usage are done globally with the involvement of organisations such as, the IETF, ISOC, IGF, ITU, ICANN etc, and these normally take time before they are implemented.   He said, “rather than preventing the occurrences, the role of ghCERT is to respond to problems as and when they occur.”   Prof. Quaynor stressed on the importance on sharing of best practices among IT operators on a regularly, so that they are abreast of the issues.

Presenting the topic, Mitigating the ‘Sakawa’ Challenge, Mr. Charles Nelson, of Youth Against Cyber Crime, described himself as ‘a lone ranger’ in the war against Sakawa. He described the phenomena as endemic.  “The future is bleak, and government should take measures to nip the crime in the bud, as the cyber crime is being committed by our youth.”  Of great concern to Mr. Nelson, was the erroneous perception among people that young people who use Internet are all engaged in the Sakawa business.   “There must be a reorientation of the minds of the youth that the Internet is not about Sakawa, and that there are enormous benefits that can be derived from using the Internet.” He said.   “Advocacy is therefore, the key to change the mindset of people.”

As the Internet continues to grow there is a need for global computer emergency response teams are a must to curb the incidences of cyber crime.  The Ghana project is therefore, a laudable initiative. According to Prof Quaynor, there is the need to create network of government ministries agencies and departments to come out with a defense strategy. He made this called when Mr.  Godfred Ofori-Som, Chair, Technical Committee, ISOC, Ghana, Ayittey Bulley, Vodafone, Ghana, Daniel Asante and Charles Nelson, constituted a panel to discuss the way forward in forging a strong computer emergency response team.

Mr. Asante, said that currently ghCERT was operating on funds from benefactors and voluntary contributions and that there was the need to look for other funding alternatives. Dr. Quaynor called on ghCERT to form strong ties with the government to tackle the issues from a multi-stakeholder approach.   Mr. Asante made a call for volunteers to join in the crusade to make the Internet a safer place.  He said GhCERT was putting a portal in place where it would disseminate information via listservs.

He also called on more volunteers to team up in the ghCERT to create awareness of the initiative.   Tunisia, South Africa, Mauritius and Egypt are other African countries which have formed CERTS.

The evening was climaxed with the launching of the new ISOC website, which has current Web 2 features, user generation content, with face book and twitter integrations. The launch was performed by Prof. Quaynor, Board Chairman of ISOC Ghana.