Plans to fight cybercrime urgently needed

Africa should strengthen cooperation in the fight against cybercrime as pointed out by delegates at the third African forum on cybercrime and electronic evidence.

The three-day summit, hosted by African governments with support from the European Union and the Council of Europe, signalled united response. 

The digital landscape is evolving rapidly and organised crime continues to adapt with alarming speed and sophistication. As we have become intertwined with the online domain, criminals have infiltrated the spaces. 

Fraudsters, backed by complex global networks, are evolving too. This demands an equally agile response. Efforts should go towards strengthening cooperation among agencies and countries. Online fraud is the fastest growing organised crime, targeting individuals, businesses and public institutions. 

Africa is losing about $4 billion every year to cybercrime. Cyber-attacks on the continent have grown by 22 per cent. Interpol’s African Cyberthreat assessment found it accounts for more than 30 per cent of reported crimes in western and eastern Africa, yet only 30 per cent of countries have incident reporting systems and just 19 per cent maintain cyberthreat databases. 

Cybersecurity strategies

Cooperation at national, regional and global levels can tackle cybercrime. Countries must jointly strengthen their capacity to respond to threats.

To harness internet potential, Africa must establish mechanisms to address socio-economic challenges. This requires collaboration and sustainable engagement between governments and other actors. There is need to move from responding to threats to a preventive approach. This means strengthening awareness, digital literacy, verification skills and digital resilience. 

At the same time, there is need for technology training for judicial and law enforcement professionals and lawmakers. Also, there is need to strengthen legislation and policies, and align them to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime and its protocols. Legislative reforms and development operational capacities are necessary in fighting cybercrime.

There are undeniable challenges due to regulatory gaps. Censorship concerns and the need to balance freedom of expression with the requirement to tackle harmful actions must be considered when regulating cybercrime. Security measures should not come at the expense of human rights. 

It is laudable that the EU and the Council of Europe have pledged partnership to African governments to design cybercrime and cybersecurity strategies. However, sustainable response to cybercrime must come from Africa itself. That is why African countries must develop strategies to guide the fight against cybercrime.

Mr Obonyo is a public policy analyst. Email: [email protected]