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 Mrs Ursula Owusu Ekuful — Minister of Communications
Mrs Ursula Owusu Ekuful — Minister of Communications

Ghana loses $50m to cyber crimes

Ghana lost $50 million in 2016 to various cyber crimes, a local information security advisory company has revealed.

According to Delta3 International, the figure could double in 2017 unless urgent measures were put in place by businesses to protect their information and data.

The Managing Director of Delta3 International, Mr Dele Aden, made this known during a cyber security awareness workshop in Accra.

He said the money was lost through various cyber activities including retrieval of personal documents, credit cards, internet fraud and other organisational leakages.

Workshop

The one-day workshop in Accra brought together both government and private companies to learn about issues relating to the cyberspace.

Participants were taken through various aspects of data and security, as well as how to protect various devices and computer systems against cyber threats.

This was to enable participants to learn how to safely protect themselves and their organisations from security risks and possible cyber attacks.

It was also to help companies identify the common risks associated with using computers, mobile devices and the internet.

Ghana alert

Addressing the participants, Mr Aden said there was the need for Ghanaian companies to take issues of cyber crime seriously considering the fact that it could cripple their operations.

“Ghana businesses are still learning about the issues of cyber security following the increase in cyber crimes and cyber security breaches. More needed to be done for companies to protect themselves from cyber attacks,” he said.

To successfully protect information assets, Mr Aden indicated that it was imperative for companies to apprise themselves of the basic understanding of the current landscape, as well as their respective responsibilities in protecting their organisations’ information assets.

He said employees were a company's greatest asset, but also its greatest security risk.

Mr Aden, therefore, called on business owners and individuals to engage experts on issues of cyber security and empower their staff.

He urged the public to be careful when downloading software onto their mobile phones, as they might be exposing information to hackers.

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