The Cyber Security Authority (CSA) has launched the 2024 National Cybersecurity Challenge (NCC) at the Mensvic Grand Hotel in Accra.
The National Cybersecurity Challenge (NCC) forms part of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month and it is aimed at promoting cyber safety and awareness among high school students by providing them with firsthand experiences in identifying, preventing, and mitigating digital threats, especially online child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Director-General of the CSA, Dr. Albert Antwi-Boasiako, in his speech said the success of the Challenge in previous years has led to an increase in the number of “participating schools from 50 to 70 to allow for more student participation in the National Cybersecurity Challenge.”
He added, “The objectives are primarily to enhance awareness of cybersecurity best practices for students to address the growing concern of the vulnerability of students online, equip students with the skills to interact with digital technology confidently, safely, and responsibly, be peer advocates for safe online practices, and direct students to cybersecurity career paths.”
Below is the director-general’s full speech.
REMARKS BY THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE CYBER SECURITY AUTHORITY, DR. ALBERT ANTWI-BOASIAKO, AT THE LAUNCH OF THE NATIONAL CYBERSECURITY CHALLENGE (NCC) AT THE MENSVIC GRAND HOTEL, EAST LEGON, ACCRA, ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2024
Representatives from partner organisations
Friends from the media
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning,
I welcome you to the launch of the 2024 edition of the National Cybersecurity Challenge (NCC), which marks the third milestone of an event that has imparted knowledge to thousands of school children across the country.
Distinguished guests, permit me to share a brief background with you about this journey that has transformed the lives of thousands of our children through cybersecurity training and sensitisation.
The Cyber Security Authority (CSA) successfully organised the maiden edition of the NCC on October 17, 2022, as part of the National Cybersecurity Awareness Month in Accra among six Senior High Schools selected from five regions in the country.
This initiative was aimed at promoting cyber safety and awareness among high school students by providing them with firsthand experiences in identifying, preventing, and mitigating digital threats, especially online child sexual exploitation and abuse. They were further prepared and quizzed on the Child Online Protection (COP) provisions in the Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038), digital footprint, social engineering, and open-source intelligence, among others and also encouraged to pursue careers in cybersecurity.
To build on the gains achieved in the 2022 NCC, the CSA scaled up the competition in 2023 to reach 50 schools in all 16 regions of Ghana, as online vulnerabilities, risks, and threats continue to proliferate and increase in complexity.
The NCC is thus being institutionalised to be an annual rallying point for students across the country to compete in exciting exercises demonstrating their knowledge on safe online practices and to avoid conflicting with the law.
Ladies and gentlemen, this year, celebrating on the theme; “Empowering young minds, creating opportunities, promoting a safer digital Ghana”, the number of participating schools has increased from 50 to 70 to allow for more student participation in the National Cybersecurity Challenge.
The objectives are primarily to enhance awareness of cybersecurity best practices for students to address the growing concern of the vulnerability of students online, equip students with the skills to interact with digital technology confidently, safely, and responsibly, be peer advocates for safe online practices, and direct students to cybersecurity career paths.
As a country, we are committed to working with stakeholders to embark on some major policy initiatives geared towards child online protection. Ongoing is the development of a Legislative Instrument to support the implementation of the Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038), which UNICEF and other partners are greatly involved. The development of the National Child Online Protection (COP) Framework, currently before Cabinet, and the development of Guidelines to support child online protection initiatives, the annual Africa Safer Internet Day (ASID) in February, among others.
Over the last ten years, children and young adults have consistently been the two groups found most likely to go online. According to Statista, a global research platform, as of January 2024, an estimated 24.06 million Ghanaians were connected to the internet, with 7.60 million active on social media.
Currently, Ghana is ranked eighth globally on daily time spent on social media with online child sexual exploitation and abuse among the top ten cybercrimes in the world, and this figure is expected to increase in the coming years if attention is not given to child online safety.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), have reported that almost 22,000 reports of child sexual abuse material that were accessed, shared, or produced were from Ghana in 2022.
In that same year, the COP Division of the CSA conducted a survey in selected senior high schools in the Greater Accra region, aiming to collect information about the online habits, risks, and vulnerabilities of students using the internet. The key findings of the survey established that a sizeable portion of the students (64.35%) reported receiving pornographic materials in various forms, including images, words, and videos.
Another concerning statistic established that 55.90% of students admitted to interacting with strangers they met online, highlighting the potential dangers of online meetings. The report also explored instances of romance scams, and the posting of explicit content.
Based on the survey findings, it was discovered that 20 per cent (2 out of 10) of children engaged in the practice of taking pictures of themselves and sharing them with their close friends. Disturbingly, these images are later exploited as a means of blackmail against the children.
Although increasing access to the internet has presented an unparalleled opportunity for children and young people to communicate, connect, learn, and access information from various parts of the world, it does come with new challenges to security. Children these days are susceptible to threats such as cyberbullying, cyberstalking, online child sexual exploitation materials, phishing attacks, and sexting, which affect their human rights online.
Ladies and Gentlemen, given that the internet is a critical tool for communication and education in today’s world, any activity that seeks to undermine freedom online negatively is against human rights. Some feedback from students during this year’s Africa safer internet day suggests that our awareness creation efforts are late because they have already been victims of different forms of online abuse and exploitation. We need to increase efforts and quicken our steps in awareness creation.
As a flagship programme of the CSA, it has been decided that the NCC is run by a national steering committee to give it a national character and the needed impetus. I would like to urge our partners to be part of the committee when called upon to support in this exercise. We also call on, civil society, media, businesses and stakeholders across the country to support the event to empower our children and to help keep them safe online.
Distinguished guests, your presence here holds the promise of rejuvenating our shared commitment to safeguarding our children and empowering them to navigate the digital landscape with confidence and resilience.
On the note of empowerment, I declare the National Cybersecurity Challenge 2024 duly launched.
Thank you for your attention!
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