The first ever Africa Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Convention on Cybercrime will commence in July 2013 with its main conference being held in Cape Town during September 2013. This awareness campaign will be a coordinated industry-wide effort to inform and educate African citizens on the safe and responsible use of ICT in order to minimise the inherent risks as well as increase customer trust.
Says Mauritz Robertson of IMPI, “As ICT practitioners it is our shared responsibility to work together to ensure online safety and security and is therefore crucial for our industry as a whole to join forces in the fight against cybercrime. The initiative creates a platform for participation to bring increased focus on the problem of cybercrime and to help build an effective cybercrime prevention programme. This falls within the framework of the National Cybersecurity Policy approved by cabinet in March 2012.
“As much as we would like to tackle cyber security from a purely technical perspective, the reality is that there is a major social component to it, and creating awareness of the problem in the broader society is paramount to reduce the risk of being a victim of a cyber crime,” says computer science professor, Willem Visser from Stellenbosch University.
Robertson continues: “The inaugural campaign encompasses a variety of activities that span over a period of six months in a format that is the first of its kind in Africa. A brief outline is available on our resource website Cybercrime.org.za/awareness. As a long-term project, we plan to host and coordinate events in different African countries each year with a view to providing public authorities, private sector, industry and civil society, organisations and individuals, the platform to connect.”
Please contact Mauritz Robertson on +27 (0)21 982 6065 or mauritz@IMPI.net for further information.
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