Accra, Ghana April 23, 2010: “Cyber crime has become extremely pervasive since the invention of the Internet.   In Ghana, many people associate the phenomena with Sakawa, which is Internet fraud or scamming. However, cyber crime goes beyond Internet fraud, it could also involve the hacking of networks, which could destroy a nation’s critical infrastructure. The perpetrators of cyber crime have become very sophisticated, so there is the need to protect our Internet resources by waging warfare against them,” said Prof Nii Narku Quaynor.

Prof Quaynor, made these remarks at social night, when he chaired a social gathering

organised by the Ghana Chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC) under the theme, Internet Security and the National Effort. It was attended by about 50 people from ISOC members, government, civil society, industry and academia.

Reiterating the importance of protecting our critical infrastructure, Mr. Daniel Asante, coordinator of the Ghana Computer Emergency Response Team (ghCERT) informed the gathering that ghCERT was partnering with government agencies, ghNOG, ISOC Ghana, GhNIC and other organisations to create awareness on Internet security issues and how some of the incidences can be prevented.  He however, said that because of the pervasive nature of the Internet, it was difficult to track down on the perpetrators and that everyone was obligated to protect the Internet against anti-social acts.

An interesting question that came up for discussion was how much security was needed to prevent the cyber crime.  While one school was of the thought that security was extremely necessary and that policies should be put in place to curb cyber crime, another was of the opinion that, the more security, the less friendly the Internet becomes, since the Internet is a network of networks and used by a large number of people.

Adding on to the debate, Prof. Quaynor said that technology keeps changing very rapidly and policies very quickly become obsolete.  Moreover, policies on Internet usage are done globally with the involvement of organisations such as, the IETF, ISOC, IGF, ITU, ICANN etc, and these normally take time before they are implemented.   He said, rather than preventing the occurrences, the role of ghCERT is to respond to problems as and when they occur.  Prof. Quaynor stressed on the importance of sharing of best practices among IT operators on a regularly, so that they are abreast of the issues.

Presenting the topic, Mitigating the ‘Sakawa’ Challenge, Mr. Charles Nelson, of Youth Against Cyber Crime, described himself as ‘a lone ranger’ in the war against Sakawa. He described the phenomena as endemic and that the future was bleak if the government does not take measures to nip the crime in the bud.  Of great concern to Mr. Nelson, however is the erroneous perception among people that young people who use Internet are all engaged in the Sakawa business.   “There must be a reorientation of the minds of the youth that the Internet goes beyond Sakawa.” He said.   “Advocacy is therefore, the key to change the mindset of these young people.

As the Internet continues to grow, there is a need for global computer emergency response teams to curb the incidences of cyber crime.  The Ghana project is therefore, a laudable initiative. According to Prof Quaynor, there is the need to create network of government ministries agencies and departments to come out with a defence strategy. He made this call when Mr.  Godfred Ofori-Som, Chair, Technical Committee, ISOC, Ghana, Ayittey Bulley, Vodafone, Ghana, Daniel Asante and Charles Nelson, constituted a panel to discuss the way forward in forging a strong computer emergency response team.  Mr. Asante, said that currently ghCERT was operating on funds from benefactors and voluntary contributions and that there was the need to look for other funding alternatives. Dr. Quaynor called on ghCERT to form strong ties with the government and tackle the issues from a multi-stakeholder approach.   Mr. Asante made a call for volunteers to join in the crusade to make the Internet a safer place.  He said GhCERT was putting a portal in place where it would disseminate information via listservs.

He also called for volunteers to team up with ghCERT to create awareness of the initiative.   Four other CERTS in Africa can be found in Tunisia, South Africa, Mauritius and Egypt.

The evening was climaxed with the launching of the new ISOC website, which has current Web 2 features, user generation content, with face book and twitter integrations. The launch was performed by Prof. Quaynor, Board Chairman of ISOC Ghana.

About Internet Society Ghana Chapter

The Internet Society Ghana Chapter (ISOC-Ghana) is a not-for-profit organization and official Chapter of the Internet Society.  The mission of ISOC –Ghana is to inform the private and public community of Internet users, on recent developments in Internet technologies and their impact on today’s global society.

Contact:

Vera Doku
Communication Chair

ISOC Ghana

[E] : Vera.doku@gmail.com

[M]: +233-244627994

16 years ago, an Internet Community from Ghana connected West Africa to the Internet and transferred this knowledge to other countries in Africa. Sadly, this community has been ignored over the years and no wonder Ghana has lost it’s presence on the global internet space with an internet penetration rate lower than the average on the African continent.

Group picture of participants at the First AfNOG EO localization workshop held at the University of Cape Coast

The President of Internet Society, Ghana Chapter (ISOCgh) Mr. Daniel Obuobi in a welcome address recounted how Internet Technology workshop had started in 1993 and since then to 2000 eight countries have held such workshops. The localizing of such workshops became more important so as to reduce the cost of travels and increase participation as well as build capacity on the continent. The results, was the birth of African Network Operators Group (AfNOG) with Internet Society (ISOC) facilitating and providing support. In this same regard, ISOCgh accepted the challenge of localizing AfNOG EO track (Unix System Administration). This got strong approval from ISOC and the University of Cape Coast opted to facilitate the process by hosting the first ever AfNOG EO localization workshop/conference.

To feather extend the localization drive the Ghana Network Operators Group (ghNOG) was born on the 31st day of July, 2009 at the University of Cape Coast. ghNOG is a “forum for the exchange of technical information to ensure stability of the Internet Services in Ghana” with the aim of creating a community for sharing experiences and technical challenges on setting up, building and running IP networks in Ghana.

The event begun on 27th July with participants from government, education, industry and non-governmental organizations been taken through Unix System Administration using Free BSD (ghNOG-1). Topics covered included; Unix concepts, FreeBSD installation, DNS concepts, configurations and delegations, Apache and Virtual Hosts, Email systems using exim, System Log Management and backups. The climax of the event was the outdooring ceremony of the new baby ghNOG. The President of ISOCgh hoped to see a vibrant ghNOG working closely with ISOC Ghana to organize technical workshops, conferences and annual meeting at various venues across the country to build capacity.

Mr. Michuki Mwangi, Senior Education Manger, ISOC in a short message was excited to be part because Ghana was close to his heart and also he attended an AfNOG training that was organized in Ghana in 2001 which marked the start of his career and has made him who he is today. As he puts it “to give back to the community that helped change me”. Mr. Michuki was an instructor at the workshop. Sharing with the audience a story on Skunkworks in his home country Kenya. Skunkworks is mailing list of young and upcoming engineers who with little or no resources are helping solve problems, making great innovation and helping local authorities to know where to go for help. “Its not perfect but has filled a void” Michuki said. He recommended that, Ghana develop these communities along a common line that brings the youth, young engineers together to harness their talent since it was difficult to get such talents in our part of the world in a group.

AfNOG Convener and ex-board member of ICANN, Prof. Nii Quaynor in his message applauded the development of Internet operator groups which in May 2000 gave birth to AfNOG in Cape Town, South Africa. At the 10th anniversary of AfNOG in Cairo, Egypt in May 2009, the role of NOG’s became even more apparent and important and as he noted “the growth of the internet network simply demanded more technical capacity of operators who had to coordinate and communicate better”.

The Internet Technical Community through ghNOG will deliver;

• ghNIC domain name registry,
• ghCERT,
• GARNet,
• IXPs/Roots,
• W3C office,
• AfrNIC training office and more… he added.

The two key success factors Prof. Quaynor noted were; extent of engagement of the community and policy environments. One interesting question he asked was the “e-Readiness of our Judiciary to handle IT related cases at IT speeds” an experience his own company Network Computer Systems (NCS) had suffered from.“the Internet Technical Community is our only weapon to prevent the digital divide”

Concluding his speech, he wished ghNOG and its trainers and trainees to be missionaries/revolutionaries who will champion internet development and selflessly serve their communities. “Ghana deserves an Internet renaissance” he added.

ghNOG!!!! Success………!!!!!

In the keynote address by the Hon. Deputy Minister of Communication Hon. Gideon Quarcoo, commended ISOCgh for its work in bringing to the forefront the importance of the Internet as an indispensable tool that we can use to accelerate the socio-economic development of the country and creating a forum for the exchange of technical information, sharing of experience and capacity-building for the industry given the constraints. The Minister called on the Internet fraternity to join hands with Government in addressing the security threats confronting the development of the Internet in general. He noted that in the area of legislation, the Ghana Electronic Transactions Act, 2008 (Act 772) which among others, will help develop a safe, secure and effective environment for the conduct of electronic transactions.

He charged ghNOG to complement Government’s efforts and provide practical and meaningful measures that can help control the menace of security. The Ministry of Communication has developed a comprehensive e-security policy that has identified eleven priority areas to secure the country’s systems, infrastructure and information he added. A copy of which he is presenting to ghNOG for study and guidance in its operations. He also mentioned an e-Security Policy document which was part of the Ministry’s arrangement for the establishment of a national Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT). He again noted that the Ministry was enjoying goodwill from Industry and this will enable it establish a governing Board for the Internet Registry and facilitate multi-stakeholder participation in the management of Ghana’s domain name space. “Government is also working to reduce the cost of bandwidth to promote the growth of the industry” he added.

He stated “Let us collectively strive first and foremost, to protect the internet and build confidence in its usage. There is so much expectation out there, and we dare not fail in our endeavour”

The Ghana Network Operators Group (ghNOG) was then formally declared duly launched by the Hon. Deputy Ministry. And promised the Ministry’s and Governments support and cooperation to the community at all times.

The board for ghNOG was inaugurate and were made of 6 members with Mr. Ernest Brown as interim Convener. Mr. Ernest Brown, GM of Zipnet and Mrs. Christabel A Addo Mfoamfo of AfOL are representing GISPA at ghNOG.

Presentation sessions were organized;
Mr. Ayitey Bully, Technical coordinator, AfrNOG presented on the Role of NOGs in National Development.

Prof. Dakubu, GARNET, UG presented on Roles of NRENS in National Development.

Prof. Nii Quaynor, Convener, AfNOG presentation was on IGF: A Multi-stakeholder Process

Towards an Improved National Internet Infrastructure: Prospects & Challenges -by Ezer Yeboah-Boateng (for GISPA)

Mr. Issah Yahaya Director, Ministry of Communication presented on New ICT Initiative for Accelerated Development

Presentation on ccTLD as a Backbone to Information Society was by Eric Akumiah, GM, Africa Top Level domain organization

ghNOG will be have a series of training workshops in the months ahead details of which will be had available on the site.