Internet fraudsters and an absence of suitable cyber security could cripple Rwanda’s efforts to become a major regional IT hub in Africa.
HumanIPO reported last month Rwanda had been ranked higher than Nigeria and Kenya by the World Economic Forum in an assessment of tech hubs.
But in an interview with East African Business Week Sheldon Hand, Symantec Limited’s territory manager for Indian Ocean islands, East and Central Africa, said trends in cybercrime have shifted to dishing out threats and unscrupulous hackers have become dangerous dealers of disruptive viruses.
Hand said this makes businesses and governments vulnerable to attack, with peoples’ and businesses money a common target.
“It no longer about blocking and providing a single solution to the threats. Attacks are becoming more specific and targeted which means you need more sophisticated tools to secure your business,” said Hand.
He added the threats have extended and are now targeting financial institutions, mobile phone manufacturers and operators and small and medium enterprises
“Now hackers are specific in targeting their threats. They are looking at a particular group, so they gather intelligence on each client,” he said.
Patrick Nyirishema, head of the ICT Department at Rwanda Development Board, believes increasing awareness of cybercrime and new threats will help alleviate the problem.
“Rwanda being a country aggressively promoting IT, has decided to increase public awareness of internet security. We are giving general information to the public such as how they can make secure passwords and protect them, how they should be aware while browsing internet”, said Nyirishema.
