How Cyber Crime Threatens Digital Progress

Digital progress in Africa is thriving. In 2020 alone, close to 495 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa subscribed to mobile services. The number was close to 20 million in 2019. Also, the usage of mobile money wallets is increasing in the country. A 17% increase was witnessed in mobile money wallets between 2020 and 2021. As a result of this, the money transaction increased by 39%. There is also a massive improvement in the internet speed of the country. According to current forecasts, the e-economy of the continent will contribute an amount of $180 billion to the African economy by 2025 and $712 billion by 2050. Rapid digitization is taking place in the continent. However, this growth can be hampered by cybercrimes.

Cyber Crime: A Threat To Digital Progress

Not only the African countries but many other countries are witnessing rapid digitization. However, digitization is also proving to be a challenge because of cybercrime. According to reports, the loss incurred because of cybercrime will be close to $10.5 trillion in 2025.

The impact of cybercrime is now witnessed in African countries too. According to another report, cybercrime is forecasted to create a loss of $4 billion in a year. The popular cyber crimes in Africa are online scams that include phishing, digital extortion, and business email compromise. Across the globe, the most common cybercrimes are phishing and pharming, non-payment/non-delivery, extortion, a personal data breach that can occur through IP address compromise, identity theft, and spoofing. Thankfully, these cyber attacks can be easily taken care of. For instance, checking the IP address on What Is My IP is helpful to keep check on identity theft. Similarly, the ability to identify a phishing email helps prevent phishing attacks.

Not only does cybercrime affect businesses but also individuals. Cyber crimes that affect individuals can prove to be a major hindrance for any country. It is because a victim of cybercrime will then become reluctant to use the digital services they were utilizing before. Therefore, to ensure that the digital progress which is taking place across the globe now maintains itself and grows further, it is essential to tackle the issue of cybercrime.

How To Fight Cyber Crime?

To fight cybercrime, it is essential first to create enforceable policy safeguards, followed by risk prevention and other management approaches. Further, the cyber environment of both individuals and businesses should be protected. To fight cyber attacks, it is not only essential to consider the technical part.

GCI reports recommend working on the following five pillars to improve the cybersecurity landscape of a regional organization, technical, capacity development, and organization. The legal pillar focuses on the appropriate policies to prevent cyber attacks and punish the attacker, which is one of the most critical pillars of fighting cybercrime.

Further, it is vital to reduce the digital divide and build digital skills amongst the people. A lack of awareness about cyber protection puts individuals and businesses at high risk. However, digital education can be extremely helpful in preventing oneself or a business from becoming a victim of a cyber attack. The people who are using the online space should be trained about at least the basic potential risk that they might face. Preventive measures can drastically reduce cybercrime.

Also, it needs to be realized that cyber-attacks know no borders. An attacker sitting in one country can carry out a cyber attack in another country. The borderless nature of the cyber attack can only be addressed through cooperation between all the countries. There are already international cybersecurity agreements to improve cooperation amongst the people. However, the members of such agreements are few, and there is a need for more countries to participate in it.

Individuals And Government Should Work Together

Cybercrime can only be fought when individuals and the government work together. Individual players can work on increasing their awareness level to take appropriate preventive measures against cybercrime. On the other hand, the government should work on building cybersecurity technologies and capabilities to both detect and mitigate cybercrime. Further, the legal policies regarding cybercrime should be strengthened to reduce the number of cybercriminals. Also, simply creating the policies is not enough; proper steps should be taken to enforce them too.

Digital progress has the power to change the world for good. Cybercrime is a significant challenge for digital progress. However, with suitable measures, it is possible to reduce the number of cyber crimes to prevent them from becoming a hindrance to the current thriving digital economy.