As Covid-19 drags the global economy into an environment of technology, an Executive Insight Conference on the Business Value of cyber security is slated for Friday 20^th August 2021 to discuss the benefits of cyber security.  

The event will help bring critical understanding to business leaders on the business value of Cyber security and to ensure that this value translates into business success.

With so much of daily lives conducted online these days, the organiser, Innovare, is quite surprise that the issue of cyber security is not more prevalent in public domain discourse.

"It’s important to realize that with the rise in the use of technology for achieving everyday tasks, there is a corresponding rise in common cybercrime, and in fact, it is much more widespread than the occasional headlines in news media suggest", C.K Bruce, CEO of Innovare said.

Every day, cyber criminals victimize people who shop, bank and send or receive mobile money. These criminals would not be described as experts or masterminds but they are as common as it comes. Innovare said the lack of awareness and the understanding of the covert methods of cybercrimes makes most people easy targets.

It is estimated that cybercrime costs the global economy in far excess of $400 billion per year. As a result, companies and organizations all over the world, including Ghana are gradually making cyber security slowly climb up the priority list and are promulgating new legislation and regulations. It is worthy to note that recently the International Telecom Union rated Ghana number three in Africa on its Cybersecurity Index.

With the seemingly global mission to make everything talk to each other through smart devices, the country's determination to connect everything to the internet has increased too. The growing prevalence of IoT technology i.e. Internet of Things, has not only simplified and speeded up our tasks but has also created a myriad of new opportunities for hackers to exploit.

No matter how advanced security measures taken, Innovare said cyber criminals will always stay one step ahead to attempt cybercrimes. If these internet-connected devices are not managed properly then they can provide a gateway to business for hackers and cyber criminals.

Estimates have indicated that there will be more that 200 billion connected devices by the end of 2020. Infected devices have a way of infecting other devices and compromised systems can make everyone vulnerable.

With organizations getting highly comfortable in enjoying the benefits of keeping their information online, there is not much surprise in the alarming number of data breaches and information leaks making news headlines almost every day.

Attack vectors such as ransomware, phishing, cyber scams, risk of removable media, etc. make it easy for cyber criminals to get to corporate data. Organizations are not giving the security of their data the level of attention it deserves so they easily fall victim to these cyber-attacks. Companies in the country have not been spared some of these attacks. Ransomware has hit quite a number of Ghanaian companies and that fact has been largely missing for our news channels.

Generally, human resources and Information systems resources have always been one of the most important aspects of any organization. Regardless of their dependency on each other, there has always been a security gap between both aspects. This gap significantly exacerbates the cybersecurity problem and without the right framework, the gap will only grow wider. It is the human beings that are actually the main vectors in any cyber-attack, both intentional and unintentional.

Without a management system that has all the critical components that will make cyber secure behavior ingrained into company culture and processes, organization are at the mercy of perpetuators. Some of the critical components of information security management systems include high level of commitment by executive management, risk management capability, policies and procedures, awareness programs and audit process.

These components must exist and they must be integrated in a manner that will create a seamless governance framework and culture. It is important to understand that cyber security is a people problem and not a technology problem. So the shaping of the various management process and actions of the management and staff is crucial in having a cyber secure working environment.

The notion that these cyber-attacks are far away from enterprises in this part of the world is a very dangerous mindset. It is a perspective that can result in the total collapse of the company. It is imperative that companies take the protection of their information assets very seriously and begin to implement the controls that will secure their business.