National Cyber Security Centre develops CII to ensure cyber-resilience

Deputy Communications Minister, Alex Abban, has revealed government through the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has developed a draft Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) Directive.

The draft, according to him, prescribes baseline cybersecurity requirements for all designated CII Owners including the health and finance sectors.

Speaking at a Cyber Security Forum with industry players in Accra on October 19, 2020, the deputy communications minister explained, “as industry players who operate and control critical infrastructure, the CII Directive being deployed will aid in ensuring that all industry players implement robust cybersecurity mechanisms and frameworks to make their systems more resilient to cyber-attacks”

“The financial sector has become a prime target of cyber-attacks and to combat this, the Bank of Ghana in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications and the NCSC has issued a Cyber and Information Security Directive to charge financial sector institutions to implement stringent cybersecurity framework and Information Security protocols and procedures to ensure cyber-resilience within the banking and finance sector,” he added.

Meanwhile, a report by the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service has indicated that Ghana lost US$105 million and US$9.8 million to cybercrime in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, on her part, has disclosed that a draft bill intended to revise Ghana's National Cyber Security Policy will go before Parliament for consideration before the end of 2020.

The bill, according to the minister, will further improve the regulatory regime and interventions for cyber security in Ghana.