Running Head: CYBER SECURITY IN AFRICA 1 CYBER SECURITY IN AFRICA 2 Cyber Security in Africa African countries have lagged behind in the implementation and development of internet connectivity and cyber security measures. Being developing nations, most of the African states have not been able to fully enhance and promote internet connectivity, preferring to put their priorities on providing other basic and necessary social amenities to their people. The governments have, however, ensured that there is provision of telecommunication networks across most parts of the continent, and internet service providers would often ride upon these networks for provision of their services to the people. It is estimated that almost 170 million people across the continent have at least a mobile phone. Internet penetration in Africa has however remained at 18%, which is way lower than the global average connectivity of 30%. It is estimated that only 1 household out of 10 households is connected to the internet. However, the number of connected internet users in Africa has grown sevenfold since 2000 to 2012. This progress can be attributed to the changes in government policy and regulations. The cyber space in Africa has been growing at a snail speed compares to other regions due to factors such as the lack of relevant skills and knowledge that would have enabled African nations to develop software’s and applications. There are few professionals in the internet and technology sectors, and thus this limits the ability of African countries to come up with their own internet applications. The introduction of internet in Africa saw some already established mobile telephone countries monopolize the internet service delivery sector. Most of the upcoming and newly-established companies which have tried to venture into the sector have had no space for development. This has greatly limited the internet technological investment, which would have helped the internet access to many people. In Africa, internet penetration has been greatly experienced in the major urban centers, where the relevant infrastructure has been put in place. The poor transport and communication networks in the rural areas has inhibited the investment into the internet sector by both the private and even governmental organizations. The uneven settlement patterns across the continent also discourages internet and communication investment in the rural areas, given that most of the people residing in the rural areas are not stable financially, and they would thus have to put food at the table at the expense of the internet, which is like a luxury and not a necessity to them. Their financial status also does not allow them to possess the internet-enabled mobile phones, tablets and laptops. The well-to-do people often reside in the major urban centers. The.

1. Running Head: CYBER SECURITY IN AFRICA
1
CYBER SECURITY IN AFRICA
2
Cyber Security in Africa
African countries have lagged behind in the implementation and
development of internet connectivity and cyber security
measures. Being developing nations, most of the African states
have not been able to fully enhance and promote internet
connectivity, preferring to put their priorities on providing
other basic and necessary social amenities to their people. The
governments have, however, ensured that there is provision of
telecommunication networks across most parts of the continent,
and internet service providers would often ride upon these
networks for provision of their services to the people.
It is estimated that almost 170 million people across the
continent have at least a mobile phone. Internet penetration in
Africa has however remained at 18%, which is way lower than
the global average connectivity of 30%. It is estimated that only
1 household out of 10 households is connected to the internet.
However, the number of connected internet users in Africa has
grown sevenfold since 2000 to 2012. This progress can be
attributed to the changes in government policy and regulations.
The cyber space in Africa has been growing at a snail speed
compares to other regions due to factors such as the lack of
relevant skills and knowledge that would have enabled African
nations to develop software’s and applications. There are few
professionals in the internet and technology sectors, and thus
this limits the ability of African countries to come up with their
own internet applications. The introduction of internet in Africa
saw some already established mobile telephone countries
monopolize the internet service delivery sector. Most of the

2. upcoming and newly-established companies which have tried to
venture into the sector have had no space for development. This
has greatly limited the internet technological investment, which
would have helped the internet access to many people.
In Africa, internet penetration has been greatly experienced in
the major urban centers, where the relevant infrastructure has
been put in place. The poor transport and communication
networks in the rural areas has inhibited the investment into the
internet sector by both the private and even governmental
organizations. The uneven settlement patterns across the
continent also discourages internet and communication
investment in the rural areas, given that most of the people
residing in the rural areas are not stable financially, and they
would thus have to put food at the table at the expense of the
internet, which is like a luxury and not a necessity to them.
Their financial status also does not allow them to possess the
internet-enabled mobile phones, tablets and laptops. The well-
to-do people often reside in the major urban centers. The
internet service providers invest much in the urban centers
because these well-to-do people can easily meet the internet
costs. The infrastructural development in urban centers also
encourages the service providers to invest in the urban centers.
The governments in African states have not done much in
investing in the internet sector. Most of the internet providers
are often private sectors who are more profit-oriented. Their
investment is thus governed by their desire for much profit, and
they would thus invest where they can reap maximum benefits.
This is always guided by the demographical distribution of
people and the infrastructural developments. Many private and
public companies are embracing the internet in enhancing their
service delivery. There has been a steady growth in the number
of people across Africa with access to computers and
smartphones. The need for socialization with friends and family
in distant places and demand for access to news and other
online services has seen a great increase in internet users in
Africa.

3. The increase in the number of internet service providers in the
recent past has lowered internet costs, as well as offered the
people of Africa options for internet services depending on the
reliability of these service providers in different places. In
Africa, there are Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Morocco and
Egypt are some of the countries with the highest number of
internet users. Owing to the general public demand for internet
access, the cyber space in Africa is expanding at a moderately
fair pace, and there is potential for growth in the near future.
With the improvement in the internet sector in many African
countries comes the problem of cyber security. Cyber security is
a problem across the globe, and notable organizations and
personalities have been victims of this vice (Fields, 2018).
Cyber security involves the protection of personal or corporate
computer data against infringement, loss, damage, manipulation
or theft. This can be damage on the hardware which affects the
data, of manipulation, theft and infringement of software data
through cybercrime.
Africa’s slow internet penetration hinders its ability to monitor
and counter cybercrime. Many people in Africa are yet to get
enlightened on cyber security, and the internet service providers
and the government have not put in adequate measures to
prevent the internet users against it. Most of these internet users
are still ignorant to the possibility of becoming victims of
cybercrime, and therefore do not take the necessary measures to
prevent it happening to them. The internet platform has many
loopholes which cyber criminals may take advantage of to
exploit the unsuspecting ignorant and innocent users.
There are several vulnerabilities and weaknesses in the
computer system’s design and operation, and internet platforms
that could get exploited by cyber criminals and used to interfere
with the data (Tschider, 2018). The cyber criminals use several
backdoors resulting from poor system configuration or design.
Some of these backdoors get created by the system’s designers
and authorized personnel for some legal reasons and access,
while others could get created by external attackers with the

4. aim of gaining access to the data saved in the computer system.
In Africa, there are many systems being embraced, both foreign
and locally-designed systems. With these systems in place, the
criminals take advantage of the loopholes in the design and get
into other people’s personal data. Many would either use the
access gained to get private corporate information from
companies and people, and also to even to steal money from
them (Moskowitz, 2017).
Computer systems are vulnerable to phishing. Phishing occurs
when an unauthorized person tries to gain access to sensitive
information in from internet users. The sensitive personal
information could be usernames and passwords to online
platforms, or credit card information. Phishing involves
generation and creation of platforms or websites which are
identical to another recognized one which internet users are
used to. The clone website would ask the internet users for their
login information in a manner similar to which the legitimate
website would have asked them to (Tschider, 2018). With this
information, the scammers can gain access to their culprit’s real
account on the legitimate website. From that, they would either
distort the information, or even make away with money from
their victims if they also got their bank details. In Africa,
banking has also gone online, and many people are embracing it
to save them from the hustle of always having to present
themselves at the banks for transactions. Kenya is an African
country that has had a major breakthrough in the mobile money
industry, and this also has created loopholes for cyber criminals
to act upon.
Spoofing has been reported in some cases, whereby one falsifies
the login data, such as the IP addresses of usernames, in order
to access information illegally (Tschider, 2018). This can be
through the email, where one forges the source of the email, or
even biometrically, where the attacker poses as the valid user
after producing a fake biometric sample. In other cases, the
attackers use the Denial of Service attacks to deny the intended
users of a network or computer system. The attackers could

5. consistently input wrong login data into the computer or
network system, forcing the computer system or the network to
be locked. This can also be done by forcing the computer
network to block all its users instantly by overloading its
capabilities. Such forms of cybercrime are also possible in
Africa.
The vulnerability of the people of Africa to cybercrime gives
them a big blow in their pursuit of greater internet penetration.
Africa is a politically-active continent. People are always
interested in getting information concerning their leaders and
other social news. The internet has come along with the
propagation and spread of rumors and fake news. Using the
internet, some bloggers seeking to amass many followers have
always been tempted to post captivating news that would gain
them more readers. Some of this news is often posted with no
clear background and justification. Fake news have always fed
the readers wrong information, and depending on the nature of
the news, this may cause stress on the readers as well as the
people being talked about in the fake news (Muhatia, 2018).
Cyber bullying has been on the rise in Africa, increasing almost
synonymously with the increase in internet connectivity in the
region. Some internet users use the platform to stalk, intimidate
and even harass other users. Social media sites such as
Facebook and Twitter are well embraced in the continent. The
social nature of these sites allows people to pass information to
other people easily. Some people use these platforms to attack
other users based on their personalities (Muhatia, 2018). In
some cases, the interconnectivity nature of these platforms have
enabled Africans to interact with people from all over the
world. Due to a reason or another, some online users from
Africa have been bullied due to the state of their continent or
even racially. Cyber bullying also occurs whereby false or
unconfirmed news get spread about an individual.
Several cases of online bank robberies have been recorded in
Africa. Billions of dollars have been reported missing from
bank accounts after thieves accessed the system through

6. backdoors or other vulnerabilities and transferred a lot of
money from the bank accounts to their personal accounts.
Worms and viruses have also been used to attack the systems
and hence facilitate the transfer of funds to the accounts of the
thieves. The banks and the government have not put enough
measures in place to safeguard money in the banks and other
online accounts.
The continent of Africa has many people who would like to rise
beyond their social and financial status to better standards. The
continent has a high rate of unemployment, and both the learned
and unlearned complain of the same fate. The internet has
provided opportunities for people across the continent to get
jobs through online applications, and some of them also get
online jobs. However, most people find it hard telling which job
offers are genuine. Some online advertisements for jobs often
end up as scams, making away with the applicants’ money
without meeting their needs.
These vulnerabilities are being countered by the government,
individual persons and also by other organizations. The
governments and people of Africa have been victims of
cybercrime over the vulnerabilities of the internet platform.
Both can attest on the effects of cybercrime as encountered.
This is greatly affecting the internet penetration across the
continent, with fears of getting conned in the process of using
the internet. Cases of cybercrime have also discouraged
financial institutions from fully investing in the continent, with
fears of getting massive losses due to the numerous cases of
robberies reports over the internet.
There is need for measures to be put in place to save the
continent from the rising cases of cybercrime. Due to
unemployment, some of the learned and computer literate IT
students and graduates in Africa would seek to make a living by
exploiting online users and institutions. It is necessary for the
African governments to create employment opportunities so that
these competent computer wizards can channel their energy in
building the society instead of looking for loopholes in the

7. internet to rob others of their hard-earned fortunes. The
individual internet users should ensure that they protect their
network login details against the attackers who may be seeking
to prey on them. It is necessary for corporate organizations to
also put in measures against cybercrime by employing state-of-
the art technology and cyber security firms to help protect their
data.
The network providers and system designers are being more
keen in the design of the systems. Efforts are being put in place
to lock out the loopholes and backdoors that would have
otherwise been used by the attackers to gain access to the
system and interfere or even steal the data (Moskowitz, 2017).
Some African companies and parastatals have brought in ethical
hackers who are mandated to play the part of the attackers and
see if there are any loopholes that would give the attackers
access to the system. The ethical hackers would advise on the
security measures to be enforced so that the system becomes
fully secure from the attackers. The Defense in depth security
measure is also being employed, whereby a system contains
more subsystems to deny the attacker easy attack and violation
of the main system.
The system designers can also use firewalls as preventive
measures to filter the network data from the host to another
network. These firewalls are often in machines that are
connected to the internet throughout. The network filtering can
be by a software bring run on the computer for filtering any
potential security breaches. It may also be through a physical
firewall, whereby a separate machine to filter out network
traffic. Another way of countering the vulnerabilities is by the
use of the Two-factor authentication method. This denies
unwarranted access to system data by requiring an input
familiar to the authorized system user. This can be in the form
of passwords, PINs, cards and other pieces of hardware. The
unauthorized people cannot gain access to the system, and any
inputs which are not similar to the user’s details are rejected.
African states are in dire need for internet connection and cyber

8. security to enable them to enjoy the internet without fear of
intimidation and harassment by other online users or the fear
that they could lose some of their data and funds to online
scammers and attackers. The governments should put into place
laws that forbid cybercrimes of any nature, and heavy penalties
should be put in place. With cyber security in place, there will
be enough reasons for genuine online businesses and financial
institutions to work without fear of intimidation or losing their
data. People will no longer fear being attacked either personally
on social media or on their personal data. Cyber security is
bound to push African states to greater levels in internet
penetration and connectivity.
References
Fields, Z. (2018). Handbook of research on information and
cyber security in the fourth industrial revolution. Hershey, PA:
IGI Global.
Moskowitz, S. (2017). Cybercrime and business: strategies for
global corporate security. Kidlington, Oxford; Cambridge, MA:
Butterworth-Heineman is an imprint of Elsevier.
Muhatia, A. (2018, December 20). Cyber threats now at
worrying levels. Retrieved March 23, 2019, from The Star:
https;//www.the-star.co.ke/amp/counties/2018-12-20-cyber-
threats-now-at-worrying-levels/
Tschider, C. (2018). International cybersecurity and privacy law
in practice. Alphen aan den Rijn, The Netherlands: Kluwer law
International B.V.
CMGT 522-01 CYBER SECURITY FOR ENGINEERING
MANAGERS

9. School of Engineering
Assignment
Instructions
Answer one question from Part A, three questions from Part B,
and one question from Part C. The test is open book and open
notes, but no collaboration is allowed. Length is about 300 to
500 words for each answer, about 1,500 to 2500 words overall.
While the syllabus specifies “hand-written”, students are
allowed to complete their work in WORD or another equivalent
word-processing software.
All answers should demonstrate awareness of the definitions,
actors, issues, and events covered in class. “A” quality answers
will provide support using examples and citations from course
readings. Footnotes for examples and citations are not required
but should be highlighted for source acknowledgement.
PART A - Fundamental Definitions (Answer one question)
1. Define and describe Cyber War. How does it differ from
traditional warfare? How is it the same? Why does it matter?
2. Is cyberspace a part of the global commons? Does the
traditional concept of sovereignty apply to cyber? Why or why
not?
3. Define and describe “restraint dynamics”. Are these dynamics
in play in cyber-crime, cyber-espionage, and cyber-terrorism?
Why or why not? 4
PART B - Cyber Issues (Answer three questions)
1. How is cyber-deterrence different from nuclear or major
conventional attack deterrence? Which of the forms of cyber
event (i.e. espionage, terrorism, crime, conflict) is cyber-
deterrence best able to control? Why?
2. Does the government or the private sector have the greater
responsibility for ensuring cyber security? Does it matter what

10. region we are considering in answering this question? Discuss
ways both might manage those responsibilities.
3. Select one of the following events and discuss a) what
happened; b) what did we learn after that event that changed our
understanding or response to cyber?
a. Shamoon b. Estonia
4. Discuss cyber threats from the nations in group a or b below
and the impact of those threats internationally.
a. North Korea b. Russia
5. What is attribution and why is it so important to cyber
security? What makes it so difficult? 5
PART C - Readings and Research (Answer one question)
1. In Cyber Spies the author, Gordon Corera, discusses Chinese
cyber espionage and the benefits they have gained from that
espionage. Who has the primary responsibility for protecting
organizations and individuals from such espionage,
governments, organizations, or individuals? Why? Should
countries like China conducting espionage be liable for their
actions? What makes this difficult?
2. When considering internet emergence and expansion in
developing regions like Africa, what are the top three
cybersecurity concerns that should be considered? How are
these three concerns affecting economic development in African
countries? What primary steps (top three) should governments
or regional / international organizations take to protect,
mitigate, and prevent these concerns from holding back
developing African economies?