Rwanda calls on ITU to establish regional cyber security centre in Kigali

He said this during a closing session of the recently concluded 2nd edition of ITU Cyber Drill for Africa held in Kigali.

The forum went beyond deliberations to cyber security alert drills, where the organisers replicated scenarios of incidents of cyber crime and tasked the participants to work toward combating the vice.

The forum also served as a culmination of the just concluded two-week cyber security campaign by a partnership of government agencies, including Rwanda National Police, Rwanda Development Board, among others.

“Over the last decade, cyber security has become very central to national security,” Minister Kabarebe said.

He also added that today cyber space had become the undisputed global media for information exchange and business transaction. Governments, organizations and individuals all relied on the internet and as such it has become a target for criminals, terrorists and other organized groups who seek to exploit to the detriment of the progress which we all enjoy.

“Our experience has taught us that there can be no progress without security,” the defence minister said.

He said, “Looking at both the present and the future it is very clear that both physical and cyber security are essential for continued growth and development. Looking at the contemporary security challenges including cyber threats, regional coordination and cooperation are indispensable.”

Regional mechanisms for dealing with security challenges already exist and under the Northern Corridor Integration Initiative, Rwanda has been specifically tasked with dealing with cyber security issues.

Kabarebe retaliated Rwanda’s commitment to partner with other countries in the region to strengthen its individual as well connective cyber capabilities, inviting the ITU to partner with Rwanda to establish a regional cyber security centre in Kigali.

Marco Obiso, the coordinator of cyber security at ITU, said they were excited with the offer and would initiate the process in the coming days.

He said it was a good sign for countries such as Rwanda to understand the threats posed by cybercrime and take initiative considered that ICT was among the pillars to drive the economy in the future.

Speaking on the same Jean Philbert Nsengimana, the minister for youth and ICT, said as much as cybercrime and cyber security was a threat, there were some entrepreneurial and job opportunities in combating the vice.

“The fight against cybercrime can contribute to the development of computer science technologies that had never been imagined before that would benefit the entire ICT ecosystems in terms of job creation and entrepreneurship,” Nsengimana said.

He also called on people involved in ICT to pursue the opportunities in an effort to bridge the existing gap.

Rwanda already has an operational computer security and incident response centre under the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), and the country has continued to strengthen its capabilities to prevent, protect and respond to computer security issues which require strong hand –on- skills which is the essence of the cyber drill.