Good morning! Today we continue our discussions on cybersecurity specifically data and infrastructure security. It now not uncommon to hear about cyber terrorism, cyber crime, cyber attacks, Information Warfare, etc. Recent examples of cyber attacks in Estonia and Georgia show that the Internet offers an inexpensive and easy weapon of modern warfare. Fortunately, we as a country may not have yet experienced critical security threats possibly because majority of users/organizations have access to ‘less than broadband speeds’ thus providing no incentive for meaningful exploits. This presents a situation where low usage and poor connectivity has acted as our “security”. However, with the growing use of the Internet, encouraged by the availability broadband connections locally, nationally (Fibre optic national project, operator networks) and internationally (TEAMS, SEACOM), the number of incidences of online security breaches are set to increase. Thank you Harry Delano (email 29th April) for raising the following important questions for our discussion today. - What is our level of cybersecurity preparedness (as government, operator, service providers, private sector organizations and educational institutions)? - Have we made an assessment of our cybersecurity preparedness levels, to date, particularly with the impending landing of international submarine fibre optic cable? - What is needed to protect our data and infrastructure from increased threats and at what cost? Regards Mwende