By Bakah Derick
The agency charged with the monitoring and promotion of government's actions in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has begun a three day capacity building seminar on cybersecurity and the fight against cybercrime for agencies, regional and divisional delegations of the North West region.
The seminar which opened this Wednesday 22 June 2022 in Bamenda according to the General Manager of the National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies (ANTIC) Prof Ebot Ebot Enaw is intended to "enlighten personel of devolved government services on the legal and technical aspects of cybersecurity as well as the best practices to be adopted in the cyberspace."
Speaking during the opening, the North West Branch Manager Ngwang Landry on behalf of the General Manager indicated that the capacity building seminar is as a result of gaps identified by his institution during a cartography carried out in the concerned delegations in 2019.
"Based on the information gathered during the outreach campaign, it was observed that most delegates lacked basic knowledge on cybersecurity while some of them were even victims of cybercrime wherein cybercriminals had stolen their personal information and used them to commit crimes." Ngwang Landry read
To fill these gaps, the participants will for the three days receive expert knowledge on"basic ICT concepts, cybersecurity and the role played by ANTIC in promoting the safe use of ICT and cybersecurity enforcement in Cameroon, how to identify and pre-empt cybercrime and the legal measures to be taken by a cybercrime victim to seek redress, institutional and technical dispositions put.in place by government to combat cybercrime in Cameroon." The regional chief indicated.
The seminar placed under the theme "state personnel, vectors of cybersecurity best practices" is the second in the North West region after the first that targeted university and college teachers.
Created in April 2002 by the President of the Republic, ANTIC is credited for identifying close to 30.000 vulnerabilities inherent in the information systems of audited organisations and recommendations formulated to correct them before they get exploited by cybercriminals.
The Prof Ebot Ebot Enaw led institution has also identified over 6500 and closed over 4100 fake Facebook accounts used by unscrupulous individuals to scam uninformed citizens and much more.