Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia will be launching the National Cyber Security Awareness Month today, October 1, 2018, at the Advance Information Technology Institute – Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence (AITI-KACE)

The awareness month which is an improvement of last year’s week celebration is expected to be observed in all the ten regions of the country under the theme’ A safer Digital Ghana.

The Ministry of Communications in collaboration with the National Cyber Security Secretariat is set to roll out the National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) 2018 and the National Cyber Security Awareness Campaign themed from 1st -31st October 2018.

The celebration, under the patronage of the President, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo will feature programmes of activities including thought leadership sessions, keynote lectures from the Inter-Ministerial Advisory Council (Ministers for Communications, National Security, Defence, Interior, Finance, Foreign Affairs and Justice), panel discussions with panellists including former Ministers of Communications, workshops, demonstrations, exhibitions, training sessions, networking and social interaction.

The climax of the National event will feature a series of high-level events scheduled for October 22 – 26, 2018 at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre.

As Ghana scales up its digitization efforts with the introduction of paperless ports, the digital property addressing system, mobile money interoperability systems, e-procurement, e-justice and the ongoing national identification system, amongst others, National Cyber Security Awareness Month offers an important platform for information sharing and engagement and an opportunity to raise awareness of pertinent cyber safety and hygiene issues.

It is expected to promote better cybersecurity practices in line with the Government’s vision of creating a secure cyberspace for businesses and citizens. Key themes to be covered during the month include, Child Online Protection, Cyber Security and the Youth and Cyber Hygiene and    Awareness

The NCSAM offers a technological advancement platform where stakeholders will deliberate on pertinent issues of protecting and guarding our cyberspace from any eventuality. It will give the industry players and stakeholders the opportunity to challenge the status quo and appreciate new trends of building a robust state of art technologies of guarding our cyberspace.

Besides a workshop for selected public sector officials on cybersecurity, there will also be a workshop for members of parliament, cybercrime and electronic evidence training for supreme and appeals court judges.

Cyber hygiene and awareness seminars, training on incident handling and child online protection programme.

A number of activities are being organized in the 10 regions of Ghana inkling schools, universities, professional/industry associations, interests groups, media houses and public spaces.

Key partners include the Ministry of Communications, the National Cyber Security Centre, World Bank, ECOWAS Cyber Security Clinic for West Africa, UNICEF, Council of Europe (GLACY + Project), the United States Government (Security Governance Initiative), Bank of Ghana and National Communications Authority.