Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) on 7th June inaugurated Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) amid cyber security concerns on the international fora. As cyber crime rises exponentially, many organisations’ and individual infrastructure is liable to being comprised because of the simplest human errors. Everyday; new software vulnerabilities are found, the browser has become a distribution channel of stealthy and stubborn viruses. Many have been victimized, their privacy violated, their identity stolen, their wallets emptied.
This is what Ug-CERT attempts to resolve — cyber threats within the communications sector. With assistance from International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and partnerships from the ministry of ICT, National Information Technology Authority Uganda (NITA) and security agencies, UCC will raise awareness and train associates, develop and employ systems to be used as well as maintaining an effective communication to escalate national security and other incidences related to law enforcement.
The inauguration of Ug-CERT, however, follows a series of events. Firstly, the revelation by Uganda’s Security Minister Muruli Mukasa at the UCC Annual Broadcaster’s Conference that government plans to build a social media monitoring center “to weed out those who use it to damage the government and people’s reputations.” Also, the compulsory sim-card registration prerequiste in mitigating phone related crime especially through money laundering and abduction.
Do you think UCC and the government have the capability to run this programme?
Image via (AP/Roberto Pfeil)