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<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.csoonline.com/article/700755/itu-to-support-kenya-cybersecurity-efforts">http://www.csoonline.com/article/700755/itu-to-support-kenya-cybersecurity-efforts</a><br>
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<h1>ITU to Support Kenya Cybersecurity Efforts</h1>
<h2>UN agency to underwrite part of costs of KE-CIRT team</h2>
<h3 id="byline"> By Rebecca Wanjiku</h3>
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<p> <span class="date">February 23, 2012</span> — The
International Telecommunication Union has announced that it
will support Kenya's cybersecurity efforts through budgetary
support and personnel.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>"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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>"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.</p>
<p>The ITU is supporting Kenya under its global cybersecurity
agenda framework, which seeks to enhance confidence in
online security.</p>
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