Nsengimana warns on cyber threats

The Minister of Youth and Information Communication Technology (ICT), Jean Philbert Nsengimana has urged ICT officials to be on guard as cyber security threats become uncontrolled.He was speaking on Thursday evening at the end of a four-day training exercise of 120 ICT personel and directors on how to counter cyber-security threats.The training, conducted by TruShield Security Solutions, a US based firm and organised by Rwanda Development Board (RDB) was aimed at developing and implementing a training program focused on increasing awareness of cyber security risks and issues for Internet users in Rwanda.“In today’s global trend of technologies, there is much increase of cyber attacks targeting government and private companies. You need to be vigilant and counter the threats before they visit the institutions,” Nsengimana said. “Don’t sit down in your offices and wait for the attack on your companies. Develop measures that can counteract them before their mission is hatched,” Nsengimana advised. He pointed out that cyber threats have the potential to affect national security, public safety, and economic prosperity of the nation and its citizens.The Minister further underscored that the government is taking proactive measures to reduce the likelihood of a serious attack by launching a national initiative focused on cyber-security awareness, education, training, and professional development of all aspects of Rwandan society. Charles Mugisha, one of the trainees explained that, the training equipped them with professional cyber security awareness skills.“After this training, we are in position to reduce any cyber security threat to our organisations,” he said, adding that modern information technology systems come with threats which need highly skilled workforce, capable of responding to a dynamic and rapidly developing array of threats.Cyber security incidents include Internet fraud, ATM scams, theft of intellectual property and government data, malware targeting mobile devices and a resurgence of the Zeus Trojan, which targets financial information. According to Paul Caiazzo, the Chief Security Architect of TruShield Security Solutions and one of the trainers said that the training broadly covered key cyber security issues for members of government, private industry and individual Internet users.“Due to modern technologies, hackers are quickly learning how to reap legitimate applications and repackage them with malicious code before selling or offering them on various channels to the unsuspecting user,” he noted.Caiazzo added that the ICT personnel needed the training to be in position to make informed decisions regarding cyber security. A survey, conducted by Deloitte last year, indicated that banks in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia lost $245 million in cyber fraud.Police statistics indicate that last year, about six cases of cyber related crimes were registered.