Westcon-Comstor Holds Its Security Day In Kenya

With fast-tracked digital transformation, there is a dire need for increased protection of data especially now that most of our data is digital. This is why a lot of players in multiple sectors are convening to discuss about how to improve cyber security and ensure that organisations are secure.

In this light, cybersecurity solutions provider Westcon-Comstor held the Kenya Cybersecurity Day where players in the security space discussed how to better prepare Africa for the future as far as cybersecurity is concerned. As a leading global technology provider and specialist distributor, Westcon-Comstor is committed to uniting vendors, partners, and end-users to drive business growth.

The Cybersecurity Day event provided an opportunity for experts to learn from each other, connect among themselves and discover cutting-edge solutions to stay ahead of emerging threats. The theme of the event, VendorQuest: Uniting Trailblazers highlights Westcon-Comstor’s focus on forging strategic relationships between vendors and partners.

The event features a number of presentations from different cybersecurity experts as well as a high-level panel discussion among some of these experts.

Themed Navigating The Evolving Landscape Of Cyber Threats: Strategies For A Resilient Future the panel discussion emphasised what needs to be done to ensure a secure digital future for Africa. The panel consisted of Thomas Njuguna, Director of Applied Principles and Auditor, Shalom Onyibe, Chief Information Security Officer, UBA Kenya Bank, Fraizer Kilonzo, Cybersecurity Engineering Lead, Cyber Guard Africa Limited, and Anthony Kiragu, Technical Lead, Kenya Cybersecurity and Forensics Association (KCSFA). The panel discussion was moderated by Francis Mwangi Wokabi, Group Head, IT Security & Infrastructure, Platcorp Group.

The panellists zeroed in on teaching students about the various specs of cybersecurity to prepare them for the future and their need to know what kind of cyber threats happen exist in the real world. Kiragu mentioned mentorship and preparing the next generation for what will happen when they get into the industry. Meanwhile, Onyibe mentioned that current threat actors are far more coordinated with hackers preferring to log in instead of break in.

“The technologies that we are using today are exposing us to more risk than before. Instead of hackers creating malware for months just preparing to rob a bank, they would rather use these new technologies that we are using but are not yet well prepared to protect ourselves from,” he explained.

The moderator, Francis Wokabi, also asked the panellists how they justify their cybersecurity spending to the board and how they identify the best vendors to work with. Thomas said that what the protection strategy is more important than the size of the budget and that as long as the strategy makes sense, it will always be easier to get a budget to support it.

Kilonzo called on the plenary to take an extra step and move from just conversations about cybersecurity to actually implementing these strategies. “We need to go beyond the conversations because that implementation is where it stops. We’ll have the conversations, the round tables, talks, pitches, and partnerships, but are we implementing what we are talking about? We need to make sure that what we are talking about has been implemented to the core and is working efficiently within the various ecosystems,” he said.

The event also featured other players in the cybersecurity space including Infoblox, Palo Alto, Check Point, Trend Micro, Zscaler and F5.