Information and communication technology solutions and application (apps) developers have been urged to enhance the security features of their products as they have lately been a target of cyber criminals.

The call was made, yesterday, at the ITU cyber security conference for the African Region, in Kigali, a culmination of a two-week cyber security campaign ran by a partnership of Government agencies.

Government agencies involved in the drive include, Ministry Youth and ICT, Rwanda Development Board, and the Rwanda National Police.

The campaign, dubbed "Stay Safe Online,” was meant to address the growing concerns on cyber crime as more Rwandans continue to embrace Information Communication Technology, and saw the government engage various users of ICT in the country.

During the cyber security forum, i the developers were called upon to go beyond producing usable solutions to secure solutions as web applications were increasingly becoming vulnerable to cyber-attacks.

Charles Mugisha, the head of cyber security at the Rwanda Development Board, told the developers and coders that about 75 per cent of online attacks target the application category.

The Director-General of ICT at the Ministry of Youth and ICT, Didier Nkurikiyimfura, said cyber security is a threat that goes beyond technical matters, hence the need for increased collaboration among stakeholders.

He said as Rwanda was increasingly promoting the use of ICT in various sectors, it was necessary to sensitise the general population on how to make use of technology without risk.

Fighting cyber crime

Since last year, Rwanda has been making efforts to protect its cyberspace and has since established a National Computer Security Incident Response Centre to monitor cyber security situation and assess risks.

Last month, Cabinet approved a national cyber security policy which aims at protecting the national infrastructure from cyber-attacks as well as safeguarding individual and organisation’s personal data and information.

Robert Ford, the vice-chairperson of ICT Chamber at PSF, said the ability of the private sector to come up with new technologies had surpassed their ability to secure the solutions.

He called for increased cooperation between the private and the public sectors to closely monitor and keep up with the changes.

"Keeping a safe and secure online space, therefore, requires participation and vigilance from everyone. As cyber security threats and vulnerabilities are present in both the public and private sectors, it is imperative the two sectors collaborate to overcome these challenges,” Ford said.

Rwanda National Police has, a partnership with Interpol, a mandate to fight the vice and perpetrators of cyber crimes can face prosecution.

Among the sectors most targeted by cyber attacks is the banking sector. Police have a financial intelligence unit attached to National Bank of Rwanda that investigates financial and cyber crimes in banks.

Speaking at a cyber security workshop tailored for financial institutions, last week, the central bank governor John Rwangombwa expressed the need for stronger security around financial IT systems as they were increasingly being used to transfer large sums of money.

Last year, mobile money services had over Rwf104 million transactions to transfer over Rwf691 billion. editorial@newtimes.co.rw