UGBS partners cybersecurity company to educate students to combat threats of cyber fraud

The University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) is to partner with a technology and cybersecurity company to educate business students on how to combat the threats of cyber fraud in the country.

Under the partnership, technology and cybersecurity experts from the Global Technology Solutions, 3T Solutions Consulting, will be given the opportunity to offer talks in cyber security at the UGBS.

The two institutions will also collaborate to promote research into cyber fraud.

The Head of  Department of Operations and Management Information Systems of the UGBS, Professor Richard Boateng, and the Executive Vice President of Global Technology Solutions 3T Solutions Consulting, Mr Kojo D. Donkor, made the pledge for the partnership during a presentation of the “2017 West Africa Cybersecurity Indexing and Assessment Report” conducted by the company, to the Dean of the UGBS, Professor Joshua Yindenaba Abor, in Accra last Friday.

The report focused on how to tackle the lack of awareness of cybersecurity in Ghana and West Africa.

The company had already presented copies of the report to the Vice Chancellor, University of Ghana  (UG), Legon, Professor Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, and the Minister of Communications, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful.

The collaboration

Mr Donkor said cybersecurity subject was now being incorporated into top universities such as Harvard, Oxford, Cornell, George Washington Master of Business Administration (MBA) programmes.

He said the UG would also benefit from this trend in incorporating cybersecurity into their business programmes, and mentioned the impact of cyber attack, safety of cyber environment, gaps in cyber infrastructure and response time to cyber threats as some of the areas that the UGBS could focus on.

"As a citadel of knowledge, University of Ghana has a role to play as the premier institution of cybersecurity education in creating practical policy implementation for the challenge.

"The UG could be the institution leading the effort in West Africa to find innovative practices to counter the menace," he said.

Cybersecurity

Mr Donkor said cybersecurity was a global problem but could be solved regionally by the coalition of academic and business partnerships.

He said one of the main reasons 3T Solutions Consulting embarked on the 12-month project was to create awareness of the menace of cyber threats to businesses and governments in West Africa using local-specific data.

"We also wanted to make available specific cyber security knowledge for West Africa," he said.

Mr Donkor said cybersecurity was not a technological problem, but rather a business problem amplified by humans, saying "People are the weakest link in the ecosystem of threat vectors."

Corporate bodies

Prof. Boateng said cyber fraud was a constant threat facing corporate bodies and individuals in the country.

He said many companies had fallen victim to cyber fraud, and indicated that the affected companies did not make such cases public because they wanted to protect their brands.

Prof. Boateng said knowledge about cybersecurity and the ability for companies to afford the cost of acquiring cyber security protections were crucial to minimising the threat to cyber fraud.

He said the UGBS provided tuition in cybersecurity, and indicated that the partnership with 3T Solutions Consulting would enrich  studies in that area.

"Collaborating with the organisation will bring industry to the classroom," he said.