1. Introduction

Africa has over 500 million internet users, which accounts for 38% of the continent’s population. An increase in the uptake and dependency of information and communication technologies in economic sectors, public institutions and society is expected, which will require countries to build effective national cybersecurity capacity to protect and defend their citizens, information, and infrastructure.  

With persistent virtual realities accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative that African countries build capacity and effectiveness in cybersecurity incident management.  

Cybercriminals are developing and boosting their attacks at an alarming pace, exploiting the fear and uncertainty caused by the unstable social and economic situation created by COVID-19.

Jürgen Stock, INTERPOL Secretary General,
Source: African Cyberthreat Assessment Report, October 2021

Cybersecurity has been identified as one of the main Agenda 2063 flagship projects in energy and infrastructure development. The cybersecurity project is guided by the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection. The Convention’s Chapter 3 provides for the promotion of cybersecurity through measures taken at the national level.  These measures include a national cybersecurity policy and strategy, legislative and regulatory measures, as well as national cybersecurity monitoring structures through the establishment of appropriate institutions such as the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) or the Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs).