Accra, Ghana//-Ghana is working feverishly to block devices such as mobiles, tablets, laptops and computers which are used to engage in cybercrime activities in the country.
Senior officials of Ghana’s Cybersecurity Authority (CSA), who disclosed this at MTN’s Bright Conversations on Cybersecurity on Friday, October 31, as part of this October Cybersecurity Awareness month, said plans were at foot to introduce a technology system that would allow the blocking of electronic devices used in committing cybercrimes.
Senior Manager at the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) of the CSA, Isaac Socrates Mensah, told participants at the well-attended event that the initiative, when implemented, would ensure that any device linked to cyber fraud or crime would be blocked permanently across all networks.
In his own words: “What we are looking to do is not only to block the SIM card used in committing the offence but also the device itself. It means that once a phone or laptop is used for fraud and identified, it will be blocked on all networks, making it useless within our environment.”
Mr Mensah continued: “If it’s just a SIM card, the criminal can easily get another one. But if it’s an iPhone 15, for instance, that device becomes useless once blocked — and that’s what we want to achieve”.
The move, he noted, forms part of efforts by the government to make it more difficult and costly for fraudsters to operate in the midst of rising cybersecurity challenges in the country.
For instance, between April and June this year, over 1,300 SIM cards involved in cybercrime in the country had been blocked as part of the ongoing crackdown on cybercrimes, according to him.
Mr Mensah also used the event to explain the vision of the CSA to the participants saying that the Authority’s short- to medium-term cybersecurity strategy among other things aims at creating a Central Equipment Register to tie every mobile device to a specific SIM card.
This move he confidently stated is expected to improve traceability and accountability in the country’s telecom sector.
Senior Manager In-charge of Legal and Compliance at CSA, Seth Gyapong Oware said the CSA had been collaborating with law enforcement agencies and service providers to track cybercriminals and close loopholes in the country’s cyber space.
Most cyber fraud cases are driven by social engineering rather than technical failures, noting that many victims unknowingly give out sensitive information to fraudsters pretending to be service providers.
Today’s Bright Conservations was moderated by Senior Manager in charge of Enterprise Information Security and Governance at MTN Ghana, Madam Jacqueline Hanson-Kotei.
