Cybercrime among Ghana’s top security threats – Kan Dapaah

The National Security minister Ken Dapaah says Cybercrime is among the top three security threats the country is grappling with.

He said the increasing development trends in Information and Communication Technology raises a serious Global Security threat that Ghana is not immune from.

Mr. Dapaah made the comments when he addressed the opening ceremony of a joint training Programme organized by the Council of Europe with support from the Global Action on Cybercrime Extended (GLACY+) and the Judicial Training Institute of the Judicial Service of Ghana dubbed “Introductory Cybercrime and Electronic Training of Trainers course”.

The Security Minister said he is excited about the training programme to the extent that beyond apprehending cyber criminals, their subsequent prosecution will be enhanced through the knowledge base that the participants will acquire throughout the five days of training.

In a speech read on the behalf, the Chief Justice said the Judicial Service has a great need of continues capacity building on how to Prosecutor Cyber Criminals. She beseeched the trainees to secure enough information out of the training so they can intend transfer same to their other colleagues.

The training programme has participants drawn from the Judicial Service, the Attorneys General Department, EOCO, NACOB, NCA, National Security, Police Service, BNI Ministry of Communication and the CID.

Background

The growth in the use and development of information and communications technologies (ICT) go hand in hand with the rise of crimes committed against or through the use of computer systems. The Council of Europe approach to protect societies worldwide in the cyberspace based on the development and implementation of the Budapest Convention on cyber crime, through a suitable programme of capacity for criminal Justice authorities.

Sustainable Judicial Training programmers on the cybercrime and electronic evidence are the only effective manner of ensuring the judges, magistrates and prosecutors have sufficient knowledge to fulfill their roles effectively. The Judicial Training approach of the Council of Europe is to empower to develop their own programme by providing the first levels of training and then supporting countries as they integrate the available training into their training curricula and Judicial Training Strategy.