Developing
nations tasting cyber crime – the Ugandan Version
During
the online classes on cyber security at Diplo Foundation a lot was
discussed about cyber security and cyber crime. At that time most of
the discussion points seemed alien to some of us from developing
countries, sorry my country Uganda is not a developing nation but
an underdeveloped country with out a cyber security team in
police, no CERT teams whatsoever in the nation and a very naive
society as regards cyber security. Most of the points of discussion
were theories in Uganda, with some formulated guidelines but nothing
practical done. Whenever it came to practical examples as regards
cyber security, I always had to borrow some from Kenya, our eastern
Neighbour.
In
just a flash of time, here we are talking about the practicability of
cyber security and having life scaring occurrences of cyber crime. A
26
year old girl was kidnapped and whisked away by unknown
individuals because of a promised cup of coffee from a facebook chat.
People have lost thousands of dollars to unknown individuals who use
legitimate email accounts of friends portraying a dangerous situation
a friend is going through thus soliciting for funds. Mobile Money, a
Mobile cellular service for transfer of money in Uganda, being used
to cheat non-suspecting individuals and many more stories that come
in a form of 'too good to be true' wins.
The
ICT society in Uganda, I should say, has always ignored most of the
cyber crime scenarios not because they were petty but because few
involved risk to life. A day when a story about the disappearance of
a girl come to media, most of the ICT discussion forums developed
ideas on how ICT can be used to or otherwise find solution to the
rampant cyber crimes in the country and to the suprise of many of us,
almost all people had knowledge of the other cyber crimes.
A lot
has been said but as members suggested the Uganda police as a centre
for solution development. The naked truth which actually hurts came
to surface about this point. The national ICT Infrastructure doesn't
have systems whatsoever to fight cyber crime. The Police at this time
of the day, which is supposed to be spearheading the initiatives for
cyber security is still planning on training a critical mass of
specialists in cyber security. The Ministry of ICT, that is supposed
to think about a National CERT has some thing on paper but nothing
physical. It was further discovered that as regards the ministry of
finance's commitment towards development of ICTs in the Country
through the budgetary allocations, it is still hard for a national
body to think about Computer Emergency Response Teams and investments
in Cyber security, besides, it has no direct inflows for the country.
In the
absence of funds and technical capacity by government and cooperate
bodies to fight cyber crime, what are we left for? Should Uganda
become a fertile land for cyber crime? Should all cyber criminals
relocate to underdeveloped nations like Uganda? The answer is No, and
a Big No.
Uganda
through education and sensitization can fight cyber crime. As
Michelle Rhee
said
that the most sustainable way of fighting poverty is through
education, I also say that the most sustainable way and method for
fighting cyber crime is through education and sensitization of the
general mass. We only need to make cyber crime the least profitable
business, and trust me, no one will be willing to invest in it. We
can only make it least profitable by minimising the would be
clientèle. Which is only done through sensitization of the general
population to detect and avoid cyber crime.
I
would at this moment want to quote one of the contributors; “In
times past, mothers and aunties taught their pre-pubescent daughters
not go to the well alone, or talk to strangers on the way there. Have
the reasons for these admonitions been erased by the coming of
modernity?” Literally meaning that in Africa we have always had
our own ways of averting normal crime by staying away from possible
crime or its source, possibly through taking strangers by caution.
This is no longer the way we behave. The y-generation has this power
'to find out', even when the finding involves going through a
populated Den. May be if we also revisited our African methods of
parenting and applied some of the principles not the methods directly
however, some of these cyber crimes will be avoided.
I
finally smell, at the end of the day, the solution to cyber crime,
particularly the one that targets us common individuals is not
technology but vigilance and being on a look out of any abnormal
occurrences.
Did I
make my point noticeable? I am not sure but I believe other people
have some techniques of helping out our naïve society as regards
this fresh problem.
