Building robust cyber-security infrastructure in Africa is strategic and opportunistic

As emerging technologies create a digitally converged world and bring in efficiencies through generation and analysis of voluminous data, new vulnerabilities and threats in the form of theft and unauthorized use of this data also increase manifold.

Securing the integrity of data and the digital infrastructure is thus imperative to create user confidence. While governments have a pre-eminent role in ensuring protection of data privacy via policies and regulations, intermediaries, technology experts and donors can lend vital support to the government in such policy formulation process.

These ecosystem stakeholders can support governments in developing consumer and data privacy protection standards and protocols for emerging technology innovations to factor in.

Many of the African countries need to build secure digital infrastructures from the scratch. This provides an opportunity for these stakeholders to help identify potential cyber security threats at the very onset to inform the conceptualization and design of robust digital infrastructures.

First Atlantic Cybersecurity Institute is working to deepen cybersecurity resilience and know-how within the cybersecurity nexus in Africa.

The time to build robust cyber-security infrastructure in Africa is now. It is a huge opportunity and it is also strategic. The continent needs to invest capital in this industry to make it happen.

Reaping the potential of emerging technologies and their ability of creating system shifts requires new forms of patient capital and proof-of-concept funding as well as tech savvy investors who have the appetite to fuel the design, scale-up and growth of tech innovations.

When it comes to cybersecurity, it is entirely a new nexus and the continent must find resources to fund and accelerate that area.