Coming on the back of recent cyber attacks in the financial community around the world, the sector minister, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, observed that “the economic impact of cybercrime cannot be ignored especially in the financial sector.”

In a speech read on her behalf at this year’s  6th Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA),  Accra Chapter conference in Takoradi, she said cyber criminality threatened the nation’s freedom online.

According to her, key state projects, including the electronic identification (E-ID), e-Immigration and e-Justice, were vital infrastructure that needed to be protected.

She expressed concern over the inadequacy of cyber security skills in the country and called for collaboration with information technology professionals to address it as a matter of urgency and ensure formalised control of the virtual space.

Conference

The four-day conference focuses on information technology (IT), information security and risks insight, and brought together players and IT firms in the country and offshore to deliberate on the new trends and threats facing the industry across the world.

According to the Mrs Owusu-Ekuful, the latest wave of Ransomware attacks across the globe further gave credence to the fact that information systems were under constant threat from all fronts.

“Building of capacity and internal control, empowering auditors, information security and risk officers, as well as IT professionals, are critically important. This conference cannot be overemphasised; it is essential that this event takes a national character,” she suggested. 

 Appropriate professional

The Accra Chapter President of ISACA, Mr Carl Sackey, said “the association provides practical guidance, benchmarks and other effective tools for all enterprises that use information systems.

He said through its comprehensive guidance and services, “ISACA defines the roles of information systems governance, security and audit and assurance professionals worldwide.”

Ramifications

Mr Sackey said the recent security events around the globe and the ramifications made such conferences even more imperative and, therefore, called for closer collaboration with the sector ministry to sanitise the space.

“We are emboldened by the fact that the sector ministry has agreed to partner us and also provide a forum for future collaboration. The ISACA Accra Chapter is committed to raising the quality of discourse in technology discussions in the country and provide the needed knowledge to the IT community as well as government, he said