Ghana lost $105 million to cyber-crime in 2018 — CID

This is more than a 100% increase since 2016. In 2016, Ghana lost US$35million. Meanwhile, the country lost US$69 million to cyber-crime in 2017.

He was speaking at the maiden edition of the Ghana Insurers Association’s (GIA) Information Technology Conference under the theme: “Emerging trend domain and impact of cybersecurity threats on the insurance industry”.

Also at the event, a Cyber analyst with e-crime Bureau Philemon Hini said heads of institutions in the country must lead the fight against cyber-crime by prioritizing investments in IT solutions.

“Within our institutions, the management level must appreciate the need for cybersecurity solutions. Because from what we are seeing now cybersecurity has been left entirely in the hands of the IT department without much interest from management. Because management does not fully appreciate cybersecurity issues it becomes difficult to get the funding needed to put the right systems in place.”

The Managing Director (MD) of SIC Insurance Company Limited Stephen Oduro, also conceded that insurance companies must protect their data with improved investment into IT systems to prevent cyber fraud.

“IT should not and I stress, should not be an afterthought. We should do all we can to prevent these unnecessary budget cuts as far as IT expenditures are concerned,” Mr Oduro said.

For Abena Biney, a partner at leading audit firm Deloitte, she said “I think we should pay attention to the cost-benefit analysis. Ignore the IT, worst case scenario what could happen? Your company could get shut down. Ask yourself a question, with one hack into your system, how much can you lose? Based on your answer don’t let IT be a second thought when you are doing your budget.”