Progressing Cybersecurity in Senegal and West Africa
Senegal and the Netherlands have teamed up to exchange practical steps and expertise to address cybersecurity issues in Senegal and the broader West African region. A secure digital environment will permit the region to fully take advantage of the opportunities for growth that technology offers.
Digital challenges in West Africa
Digital developments in Africa are already going fast and African city centers are changing profoundly. However, new challenges arise alongside growth. Increasing technological exposure poses its own vulnerabilities and risks. Today, challenges in Africa center on achieving a level of technological security in order to prevent and control risks; contribute to the economy and guarantee access to information to individuals while at the same time creating a climate of confidence and trust in ICTs and protecting rights and freedoms.
The GFCE initiative aims to address the mentioned challenges through the following activities;
- A cyber security capacity review of Senegal conducted by the Global Cyber Security Capacity Center, to enable the government of Senegal to prioritize areas of capacity investments.
- Two Expert Meetings on cyber security to address issues and challenges relevant for the West African region.
Expected Outcomes
- As part of this initiative, the Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre (GCSCC) conducted a review of cybersecurity capacities in Senegal, supported by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of Senegal. The review, which took place in January 2016, was based on the Cybersecurity Capacity Maturity Model for Nations (CMM). For this mission, experts from the GCSCC have met all important Senegalese cyber stakeholders- government, academia, law enforcement forces, the private sector, NGOs, etc. The recommendations that were provided with the review report allow the Senegalese government to prioritize the areas of capacity in which Senegal could invest strategically. Read this article for more information or read the report.
- The National Cyber Security Strategy of Senegal was validated on November 2017. The publication is available here
- Priorities in cybersecurity for the West-African region will be identified on 12 and 13 April 2016 during the first expert meeting in Dakar, Senegal.
- The second expert meeting will build on the outcomes the first meeting and will seek to capture recommendations in a report in November 2018 (tentative).