[kictanet] Fibre Optic & Cyber Security, March 2009

[Pauline Muthigani]

Walu,
True, Kenya and the whole region have become the preferred destination for
executing cyber crimes . Top on the agenda for the ICT fraternity, and the
board  should be to see to it that the e-legislation bill is passed and
enacted much sooner than 2009.

 My experience with ICT investors especially in eCommerce and eBusiness,
confirms that unless the Cyber Security issues are dealt with(
investigations and prosecutions etc), Broadband or no Broadband , Kenya
still is not a competitive destination as we would wish her to be.Even
for the really great digital village initiatives, the risk is high
there..I hope the owners are being made aware.

What we need is a 'conducive environment and security assured
infrastructure' the rest will fit in.

The Dubai model is worth borrowing a leaf from.

First things first.

rgds,
Pauline


> Security is going to be a mega-issue once the submarine
> fiber lands in Mombasa. At the moment Kenya is spared the
> full-scale exposure from international cyber crooks simply
> because our slow satellite links don't lend themselves to
> modern tools of cyber-attacks.
>
> Here is my macro-projection of what will occur on the
> internet-security landscape in March 2009 or thereabout
> when the submarine cable is launched.
>
> 1. Continued delay of national and regional legislation
> makes Kenya and E.Africa a safe-haven for cyber-crooks.
>
> {following the delayed debate and enactment of the
> pre-requisite Cyber-legislations (e-Transaction Act,
> Cyber-crime Act, Data-protection Act, etc) Kenya has become
> the preferred destination for executing cyber crimes and
> getting away with it. The crooks are taking advantage of
> the lack of legislation as well as the incapacity for the
> authorities to investigate, collect, preserve digital
> evidence as well as prosecute cyber-crime.
>
> The newly launched submarine cables seem to have provided a
> conducive superhighway for the crooks to deploy there tools
> from the comfort of their Chinese, Eastern Europe and other
> territories.  The Kenya Government seems to have been
> caught off-guard and the Internal Security Minister could
> not be reached for comment because he was holed up in a
> crisis-meeting....}
>
> 2. Local domains hosting critical national infrastructure
> get hit (Banking, KRA, Immigration, Medical Data)
>
> {....In particular, the successful deployment of
> eGovernment initiatives such as KRA, KPA, Banking, Medical
> and other data have become a soft-target for the criminals.
>   They