Africa-Press – Mauritius. Government has been playing a leadership role on the digital agenda responding to rising cyber risks so as to maintain our digital infrastructure safe, said the Minister of Financial Services and Good Governance, Mr Mahen Kumar Seeruttun, this morning, at the opening of a workshop on cybersecurity for Board Directors, Chief Executive Officers and Key Decision Makers, held at Hennessy Park Hotel, Ebène.
He recalled that cyberattacks have taken a totally new dimension recently, becoming increasingly sophisticated, fast-spreading and more and more destructive.
With remote working and attacks becoming increasingly stealthy, the risks of businesses being victims of cyberattacks, data theft and data leakage without being aware of it, is real, he said.
According to the latest version of the Cisco/Cybersecurity Ventures “2022 Cybersecurity Almanac”, the cost of cybercrime is predicted to hit $10.5 trillion by 2025 and more than 33 billion records will be stolen by cybercriminals by 2023, an increase of 175 per cent from 2018, he noted.
Minister Seeruttun highlighted that Government is legislating, taking appropriate policy actions, signing up to international conventions agreements and collaborating with international allies in a bid to keep Mauritius open and abreast to emerging disruptions, making the most of available opportunities and concurrently, deal with emerging threats.
He also underlined the need for heightened public-private cooperation to consolidate the preparedness and resilience of Mauritius. Furthermore, he dwelt on initiatives taken to build cyber resilience in the country as well as consolidate the preparedness of Mauritius to detect cyber threats.
They include: introduction of the Cybersecurity and Cybercrime Act 2021; setting up of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Centre of Excellence in the field of Cybersecurity, partnering with regional partners such as AfricaCERT, the African Union Commission and Southern African Development Community on cybersecurity matters; and participation of Mauritius in the European Union (EU) Cyber4D (Cyber Resilience for Development) activities since 2018, an EU initiative which promotes cyber-resilience and cybersecurity in order to protect public and private enterprises across the world.
He rejoiced that the initiatives taken have played an important role in the ranking of Mauritius in the ITU Global Cybersecurity Index and has placed the country first in Africa since the past eight years and ranked Mauritius 17th globally in the 2020 edition of this league table.
Speaking about the threat of a cyber-attack, Mr Seeruttun remarked that they are becoming a matter of deep concern for businesses. Every company is today a Cyber Company and cybercrime is thus increasingly considered as a strategic risk for organisations, he said.
According to him, cybercrime can pose an enterprise-wide, sector-wide as well as country risk. In that context, Government, he indicated, is endeavouring to instil in current and future generations a positive cybersecurity mindset and culture.
He pointed out that the Ministry of Financial Services and Good Governance will soon be launching a Cybersecurity Awareness Training to promote a cybersecurity culture.
Positioning our jurisdiction as a Fintech Hub is a very high ambition and in this respect, a strong cybersecurity culture promoted by Boards and the C-Level is a critical success factor to keep organisations and our country the safest place to live and do business online, he added.
Also present, the CEO of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), Mr Dhanesswurnath Thakoor, said that cyber resilience culture should pervade every aspect of an organisation.
Companies today need to be ready and able to protect their data in the event of an attack while also being prepared to handle fallout should a system be compromised, he highlighted. He dwelt on several initiatives taken by the FSC as regards guidelines on cyber resilience.
They are: the setting up of a joint committee between the FSC and Mauritius Finance which is working on the new cyber security guidelines that will shortly be introduced by the FSC; introduction of digital identity and signatures to improve trust and security in the financial services sector; and implementation of the ISO 27001 Information Security Governance Framework.
The workshop The workshop is an initiative of Mauritius Finance in collaboration with the FSC and Rogers Capital. The objective is to create a unique and distinctive cybersecurity awareness and experience among Board Directors, CEOs and key Decision Makers for them to have a holistic view of cybersecurity and to take key actions to not only protect their organisations but also their employees and themselves as they are being targeted; and build cyber resilience for the country
For More News And Analysis About Mauritius Follow Africa-Press
