African Governments advised by Kaspersky on e-Security

During the IDC IT in Government Roadshow 2012 held at the Hilton Hotel Nairobi on Thursday, leading global IT Security firm Kaspersky discussed the issues that governments across Africa face in handling e-Security.

The firm advised the various African government departments, which are currently bringing more of their services online to overhaul their IT systems in order to protect them from the recurrent cyber intrusions.

The implementation of e-government programs are expected to increase leading to sustained investments into systems, storage, and network infrastructure as well as various software technologies such as  virtualization, middleware, security, portal solutions, and enterprise applications.    

Kenya has been hard hit in the recent past with over 100 government websites being hacked overwhelming the CCKs Cyber Incidence Response Team (CIRT). The massive cyber intrusion has mainly been blamed on the government hosting its websites in one server at the Treasury, which it is currently working on.

According to a survey by B2B and Kaspersky Lab, Cyber-attacks have been predicted to be the number one risk to businesses within the next two years. The survey involved over 3300 IT specialists in 22 countries worldwide and puts Cyber-threats second only to economic uncertainty in business risks with the gap closing fast.

A recent internet usage report by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) shows that approximately 17.4 million Kenyans use the internet as at December 2011, an increase from 8.8 million in the previous year.

For more on the Kenya Cyber Security Report 2012 Grab a Pdf copyhere