Cyber security should focus on protecting women – Dr. Kofi Annan

Information Technology (IT) Consultant, Dr. Kofi Annan has lamented the absence of policies to protect the rights of women on the internet.

He made this assertion in an interview with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show aired on e.TV Ghana and Happy 98.9FM.

“The new cyber security act which was passed in 2020 looks at protecting the entire cyberspace of the country and targets specific areas, including corporate spaces of an organization, individuals and children.”

According to him, there are certain policies that address protection on the internet in general. “This does not specifically look at things that relate to women but it addresses issues that will cover them and what we are saying is that there should be an intentional attempt to specifically address situations relating to women,” he said.

He addressed the fact that in Ghana, there are certain cyber acts that endangers the lives of most ladies, and lead to depression and suicide attempts. “If you should go to the cyber security department at the police head office, you’ll know that some of the issues confronting ladies on daily basis have to do with extortion. And a lot of women are depressed because of that,” he cried out.

He disclosed that most of these females are taken advantage of by ex-partners and friends they trust. “This happens when some ladies have affairs with their partners and genuinely send them some secret content like their nudes. After a breakup, their partners threaten to leak the content and this creates a whole lot of problems for them,” he added.

He concluded by saying, a few of the women have the courage to report such cases at the police stations. “Most of them are depressed and they find it difficult to come out and report such issues. This is why we need to protect their rights to encourage them to come and speak when the need arises,” he said.

The mission of the Cybersecurity Policy is to identify, analyze, address and remediate the immediate and potential cyber security threats posed on identified critical national information infrastructures and put measures in place that will adequately regulate and secure the system infrastructures and meet the countries cyber security needs.