More Than 60% Public Systems Endagered To Cyber Attacks
The Director-General of the National Information Technology Agency
(NITA), Richard Okyere-Fosu, has disclosed a concerning statistic: 60
percent of government systems lack sufficient antivirus protection,
posing potential security risks.
He said his outfit’s assessment reveals that just over 30 percent of
government systems and end nodes (computers) have the appropriate
antivirus set-up.
Mr. Okyere-Fosu disclosed this in Accra during the official signing
of a partnership agreement for antivirus services between NITA, Smart
Infraco and Trend Micro – a global antivirus service provider.
This disclosure, coming amid concerns about the imminent danger
posed by misinformation and disinformation ahead of the country’s
crucial 2024 General Elections scheduled for December, highlights the
vulnerability of government networks to cyber threats such as malware,
ransomware and other malicious attacks.
“One such risk factor that is not only peculiar to Ghana, but a
global menace, is cyber threats. Cyber threats come in various forms,
one of which is the spread of virus which mostly cripples government
systems and services,” he stated.
“NITA’s assessment shows that just a little over 30 percent of
government systems and end nodes (computers) have the right antivirus
setup. This poses a great deal of risk to government in its agenda to
fully digitalise the economy,” he added
Forging strategic partnership for enhanced cybersecurity
Against this backdrop, NITA has struck a partnership with Smart
Infraco Limited and global cyber-security leader Trend Micro to fortify
the country’s digital infrastructure.
This partnership, which was signed on 24th April, 2024, aims to
empower public organisations with robust cyber-security solutions,
ensuring a secure and resilient digital ecosystem that can withstand
potential cyber-security threats.
The partnership is expected to complement the government enterprise
architecture, a standard security architecture, emphasising the
mandatory deployment of antivirus software across all government systems
and end nodes.
To fulfil this mandate, Smart Infraco, as a technical partner of
NITA, will install Trend Antivirus servers at the two national data
centres to efficiently deliver antivirus services to government agencies
nationwide.
Under this strategic alliance, Smart Infraco will also deploy Trend
Micro’s Deep Security solution within the national data centre. The Deep
Security will provide comprehensive protection at both the server side
and endpoint levels, including intrusion prevention, anti-malware and
integrity monitoring, safeguarding critical systems and data, NITA said
in a statement.
Again, leveraging Trend Micro’s innovative suite, Smart Infraco will
further offer government organisations worry-free cybersecurity. This
will include Endpoint Security for defending against ransomware and
advanced attacks; Email Security for real-time protection against
targeted attacks, spam, phishing and viruses; Collaboration Security for
safeguarding online collaboration tools to prevent data loss; and
Extended Detection and Response (XDR) for automating threat detection
and response.
NITA has already deployed a Security Operations Center (SOC) that
supervises and monitors government infrastructure and systems in real
time. The deployment of the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) also adds
another layer of security and deepens the security protocols for
government systems.
“Antivirus, therefore, is one of the missing components for our
security model. This is why this partnership comes at a very opportune
time. We are hoping that the antivirus services will keep the integrity
of systems and end nodes within government domain and prevent some of
the cyber-security incidents have been happening in the past,” Mr.
Okyere-Fosu said.
Source: B&FTonline.com
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