Cyber Criminality: ANTIC upgrades State Personnel Skills

Growing cyber criminality across the world has bled economies, stirred terrorism and leaked State sensitive information. The situation necessitates that experts must swim against the wave of cyber attacks that cost Cameroon 3 Billion FCFA last year. Cameroon has taken up various arms against cyber crime, including the creation by a presidential decree in 2010 of the National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies (ANTIC).

The agency seeks to check the escalation of the hydra-headed phenomenon. This and other security techniques against cyber crime have earned Cameroon the 15th position in the world and the fifth in Africa. This ranking is contained in the 2015 report by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). ANTIC Director General, Dr. Ebot Ebot Enaw, who made the disclosure, was addressing participants at one-week workshop in Buea from September 19-24, 2016.

Dr. Ebot Ebot Enaw explained that the workshop was intended to enable security officers carry out conclusive forensic research against cyber crime as well as improve the skills of civil servants with latest techniques in managing and securing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools. The human element was identified as the weakest link in the cyber security chain. The cyber training modules included extracting and analyzing digital evidence on media like hard drives, tablets and smart phones.

The 100 participants from State institutions, including the military, security services and Civil Service, equally built skills in detecting intrusions, monitoring social media, protecting computers and mobile phones and elaborating deep web.