[kictanet] ITU to Support Kenya Cybersecurity Efforts By Rebecca Wanjiku

[Alice Munyua]

http://www.csoonline.com/article/700755/itu-to-support-kenya-cybersecurity-efforts


  ITU to Support Kenya Cybersecurity Efforts


    UN agency to underwrite part of costs of KE-CIRT team


      By Rebecca Wanjiku

February 23, 2012 --- The International Telecommunication Union has 
announced that it will support Kenya's cybersecurity efforts through 
budgetary support and personnel.

In a Memorandum of Understanding signed in Geneva by the ITU and the 
Communications Commission of Kenya, the U.N. specialized agency will 
bear 30 percent of the cost of running the Kenya National Computer 
Incident Response Team Coordination Centre. The actual budget figures 
were not available from the CCK.

"The ITU will provide staff resources for the coordination and 
management of the project and will be responsible for the overall 
management of the project implementation, supervision, monitoring, 
coordination, evaluation and hand-over to the Commission after six 
months," said Francis Wangusi, acting CCK director general in a press 
release issued after the ceremony in Geneva.

The KE-CIRT team is expected to be the national trusted focal point for 
advising and coordinating responses to cybersecurity incidents in Kenya, 
but recent hacks of government websites and three banks, coupled with a 
lack of comment from KE-CIRT, has made information security experts in 
the country to question the effectiveness of the team.

"As a representative of the security community in Kenya, I would love to 
see the KE-CIRT well-equipped with the right personnel and also have a 
positive outlook when dealing with cybersecurity issues; my fear is that 
this might be among the many initiatives which the government might try 
to implement without private sector involvement," said Tyrus Kamau head 
of security and risk at Cellulant, a mobile banking applications provider.

The ITU is supporting Kenya under its global cybersecurity agenda 
framework, which seeks to enhance confidence in online security.

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