Track activities of cyber criminals - Minister

Accra, Aug. 19, GNA - The Minister of Communications, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, on Wednesday tasked the security agencies to go beyond individual actors behind cyber crimes by widening the net to include institutions and collaborators who aid and abet the offence. He said by so doing the security agencies would be able to track the activities of these cyber criminals and their associates and bring their activities to a halt.

Mr Iddrisu was speaking on the final day of the E-Ghana Project workshop in Accra, which was aimed at sensitizing civil society organisations and investigative agencies on the activities of cyber criminals and how to combat the menace.

The two-day seminar, which was on the theme: "ICT for Accelerated Development - Creating the Enabling Environment - Cyber Crimes and the Laws of Ghana, Strengthening Cyber Security" was attended by cyber security experts from both Ghana and Nigeria, who shared their countries' experiences in dealing with the threats.

Mr Iddrisu also reiterated the government's commitment to use Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) for development as well as reduce the cost of doing business.

He said the future opportunity that ICT brought to the nation was huge and therefore urged the people to avail themselves of those prospects.

He said his Ministry was working hard to ensure that the country's laws were adequate to fight cyber crimes and strengthen cyber security. Mr Iddrisu also expressed concern that Ghana was becoming a dumping ground for e-waste from developed countries.

He said the country was working with some of its development partners in order to curtail the menace.

Mr Samuel Amoah, a Cyber Security Expert based in Canada, hinted that the Canadian Institute of Learning was collaborating with the University of Cape Coast to offer forensic training in cyber security and fraud detection in ICT.

He said for the nation to win the fight against cyber crimes it must first combat the criminals within the system before those outside the country.

Mr Amoah also called for a permanent task force to formulate an action plan to move the process of the various deliberations in consultation with the ministry. 19 Aug. 09