Cybersecurity Challenges Facing Sub Saharan Africa: Botswana Context
Keywords:
Cybercrime, Global Cybersecurity Index, Cybersecurity, Critical information infrastructure, Cyberattacks.Abstract
The Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) of Botswana dropped from position 23 in 2014 to position 69 in 2017 with GCI scores of .176 and .430 respectively. The mediocre GCI performance of Botswana resulted in modest GCI scores across all GCI competitive measures namely: legal, technical, and organizational structure, capacity building, and international cooperation. Generally, cybercrime exploits critical infrastructure systems, thereby placing the nation’s security, economy, public safety and health at risk. The absence of a national cybersecurity policy framework that describes the current security posture, identifies and prioritizes opportunities for improvement, and communicates to stakeholders about cybersecurity risk, may exacerbate the delay in the execution of Botswana National Cybersecurity Strategy, which has been under development for more than 3 years. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore policy frameworks developing countries use to guide the development of cybersecurity policy and strategies organizations use to safeguard and combat cybercrime. Fifteen senior managers from the University of Botswana, Ministry of Transport and Communication, Botswana Police Service, Attorney General’s Chambers, and representatives from the private sector participated in a focus group interview during the 3rd International Conference on Internet, Cybercrime, and Information Systems hosted by University of Botswana on 1st to 2nd November 2018. Themes that emerged included awareness and training, fast tracking the approval of the National Cybersecurity policy, protecting government ICT infrastructure from incidents of cybercrime, building national computer emergency response teams and national security operations centers with appropriate governance structure, and the development of National Cybersecurity Policy to improve Botswana’s security posture and GCI performance.
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