Government to strengthen strategies against cybercrime

The government plans to strengthen national cybersecurity measures to address the growing threat of cybercrime, online bullying and attacks on digital systems affecting individuals and institutions across Malawi.

Minister of Information, Digitalisation and Technology Shadreck Namalomba said this during the National Cybersecurity Drill and Conference in Lilongwe, where he called for coordinated efforts to improve the country’s capacity to prevent and respond to cyber threats.

Namalomba said cybercrime was increasingly affecting people’s lives, with women and girls facing online abuse, organisational systems being hacked, and inmates in some prisons allegedly using mobile phones to defraud people through mobile money transactions.

He said the conference would help stakeholders develop effective strategies to strengthen cybersecurity and ensure authorities respond promptly to threats before they cause serious damage.

According to Namalomba, the strategies would focus on protecting communication systems, citizens, investors and vulnerable groups, while ensuring that no one was excluded from national efforts to improve cyber resilience.

“Private sector, investors, we must all come together to develop systems to ensure that we are resilient enough to address issues of cybersecurity because it is an attack on the people and sovereignty,” he said.

Namalomba also urged the Malawi Police Service to enforce existing laws and ensure that individuals involved in cybercrime were held accountable.

Meanwhile, Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) Board Chairperson Chancy Gondwe emphasised the need for increased investment in cybersecurity infrastructure to protect critical information systems and digital assets.

Gondwe said safeguarding information was essential to national development, as government institutions, businesses and other organisations increasingly depended on digital systems to deliver services and conduct operations.

“So it is high time that, as a nation, we should invest in cybersecurity infrastructure so that we protect our critical information that is also used for our national development,” he said.

The conference was organised by MACRA under the theme, “Strengthening National Cyber Resilience through Collaboration and Preparedness.”

Among those who attended were Minister of Justice Charles Mhango, Minister of Lands Chimwemwe Chipungu, Minister of Gender Mary Navicha, and representatives from the private sector, academia and the judiciary, alongside Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters.