By Zivisai Chagaka
The pervasive use of ICTs in the world, including Zimbabwe, has presented enhanced opportunities for achieving economic development and wealth to people and institutions joining the cyberspace.
But a lack of security in digital ecosystems generates pitfalls and social vulnerabilities such as frauds, service breakdowns, and disruptions in political and democratic stability.
Corporates and organisations, including government departments, are becoming increasingly vulnerable to cyber crimes such as data espionage, computer-related forgery and terrorism activities, pornography, identity theft, spam, and online harassment, among others.
Available data shows Zimbabwe lost more than US$40 million in 2018 to cyber crime in the first four months of the year and over
4 000 counts of cyber-related crime were handled by the police during the period.
This was an improvement, however, from the previous year when US$64 million was lost to cyber fraud.
As the debate around the Cyber Security and Data Protection Bill — which was gazetted by the Zimbabwean government in May last year–rages on, the Italian embassy in Harare will host a special online course on cyber security that will run for three weeks.
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The course — sponsored by the embassy and organised in collaboration with the Italian embassy in Lusaka, Zambia — will be conducted from the European Union National Institute for Culture at the Italian Cultural Centre in Harare.
The course, titled Cyber Security: Understanding Technical, Legal and Management Issues, will be offered by one of Italy’s prestigious universities, Luiss Libera Universita Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli (or simply Luiss) based in Rome, starting on April 26.
It will draw 40 executives and professionals from across the local corporate world and government departments.
A statement from the embassy said: “Building a cyber security capacity entails both the protection of digital infrastructures and the defence of national and economic security while ensuring respect for human rights.
“There is a general agreement that cyber capacity is about achieving resilience against internet-based threats through a broad range of policies which include the creation of national cyber security strategies, computer security incident response teams, the strengthening of cyber crime laws, the promotion of public-private partnerships, and improved education and awareness,” the statement added.
“Moreover, the institutional development of skills and knowledge on cyber security technology and practices positively impact cyber capacity building.”
According to reports, the ransomware wannaCry affected 200 000 computers in over 150 countries worldwide in 2017.
The attack began in Ukraine, and spread to companies in Russia, Western Europe and the United States.
Cyber crime is estimated to cost hundreds of billions of US dollars in losses yearly.
In as much as organisations may have adequate physical security, today’s cyber environment requires maximum protection of the cyber infrastructure, as the threats of fraud, hacking, harm and loss have become realities in day-to-day operations.
The course provides an in-depth understanding on the multi-faceted nature of cyber risk in digitally-enabled societies.
The course adopts a multi-disciplinary approach to focus on cyber security as a key driver for sustainable growth, the statement reads.
Luiss is among the world’s top 50 universities for politics and international studies, according to the QS World University Rankings By Subject 2021, which ranks individual subject areas of 1 000 best universities in the world.
The Italian institution is part of the Cyber Security Competence Centre and Network, one of the eight highly specialised competence pillars on Industry 4.0 issues, which combines universities, institutions, research centres and businesses.
Among the main missions of the centre is the fight against cyber crime and research on cyber security, developing effective strategies to support local businesses.
It also offers a Master’s degree in Cyber security: Public Policies, Legislation and Management dedicated to the training of professionals and experts in cyber security.
At the end of the three-week course, the participants will receive certificates from the university.
