As our world becomes more interconnected, the potential impact of cyberattacks on individuals, businesses, and governments has grown exponentially. At the same time, cybersecurity is essential for safeguarding our valuable information, maintaining trust, and ensuring a digitally stable society.
The cost of cybercrime around the world is expected to reach close to N$200 trillion by 2025, this is according to research by Cybersecurity Ventures. That is more than what two of the world’s biggest corporations - Apple and Amazon - are worth combined.
Namibia’s Cybersecurity Strategy and Awareness Creation Plan 2022-2027 was launched this year under the theme of ‘A Step to Cyber Resilience and Digital Security’. This initiative aims to protect the national critical information infrastructure, educate and create awareness, and collaborate on cybersecurity to continuously improve the safety of internet users.
This week, hundreds of ICT professionals, experts and institutions converged in Windhoek for the 7th National ICT Summit under the theme ‘Re-thinking cybersecurity investment to secure the digital economy and its opportunities’. While the summit creates a platform for the industry to discuss trends and challenges, more meaningfully might be that it proposes solutions and services to deter cybercrime and exposes the youth to latest ICT developments. This exposure for the youth is crucial to understanding the ICT landscape to become innovators in their own right to champion our fight against cybercrime.
The event aimed to define the roadmap for the development and effective integration of technology, as well as the agenda for growing ICT for an inclusive society. The ICT summit is also seen as a vital tool in achieving the government’s national priorities of economic growth and development as it strives for poverty eradication and shared prosperity for all.
In the latest cybersecurity partnership with the private sector, the ICT ministry and Salt Essential IT this week introduced the country’s first-ever iSecureBot. This is an artificial intelligence application in the form of a WhatsApp Info Bot that provides cybersecurity awareness and education. This innovative and interactive platform aims to empower and protect Namibia’s online community. Salt Essential IT has committed to develop and provide cybersecurity awareness training with the ministry in alignment with a five-year agreement the two entities signed in 2022. This latest initiative is also in support of Namibia’s Cybersecurity Strategy and Awareness Creation Plan.
Meanwhile, after a decade of anticipation, the country’s long-awaited cyber legislation, namely the Cyber Crime Bill, the Data Protection Bill and the National Cyber Security Strategy is expected to be passed in the National Assembly next year. Also, the ICT ministry stated that it expects to have the first draft of the National Digital Strategy ready by next month and a revised ICT policy is expected to be submitted to Cabinet March 2024.
As cybersecurity continues to evolve and as new cyber threats from all corners of the world emerge, it is imperative for the nation to keep abreast of a rapidly developing digital world. This means investing in innovative home-grown solutions and fast-tracking necessary legislation because the lack thereof continues to make the country particularly vulnerable to cyber-attacks. This is evident by the fact that just last year, Namibia faced an astronomical 40% increase in reported cyberattacks.
To avert this escalation in all sorts of cyberattacks will require a collective effort from all stakeholders to ensure we devise effective risk-mitigating actions and jointly implement these to ensure we protect our national digital systems. On top of this, we must regularly review and update cybersecurity strategies to stay ahead of ever-evolving threats.