Latest ITU Global Cybersecurity Index:  Ghana ranked Tier 1 in 2024… joins role-model status with 46 other countries worldwide, becomes benchmark for other nations

Ghanahas been ranked with a Tier 1 status in the 2024 Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) released by the International Tele­communication Union (ITU).

The GCI is a critical benchmark used globally to evaluate countries’ commitment to cybersecurity and provides a comprehensive, evidence-based assessment of cybersecurity measures, policies, and practices, offering a valuable tool for countries to assess their progress and identify areas for improvement.

The five tier system of the GCI are; Tier 5 – Building, Tier 5 – Evolving, Tier 3 – Establish­ing, Tier 2 – Advancing and Tier 1 – Role Modelling with Tier 1 being the highest ranked Tier of the Index.

This new 5-tiered ranking system categorises countries into different tiers based on their cybersecurity measures.

Ghana’s placement in the Role Modelling category signifies that it is a leader in cybersecurity practic­es, serving as a benchmark for oth­er nations, a statement released by the CSA in Accra yesterday stated.

“This status is crucial as it high­lights Ghana’s advanced cybersecu­rity framework and its ability to set a high standard for others to fol­low, setting the basis for sustained cybersecurity activities to protect and secured Ghana’s developing digital ecosystem.

The remarkable score of 99.27 per cent makes Ghana the second highest-scoring country on the African continent, after Mauritius. Ghana is also one of five African countries to achieve the Tier 1; Role model status and among 46 countries worldwide that fall in this category. “

The GCI evaluates countries across five strategic pillars: Legal Measures, Technical Measures, Organisational Measures, Capacity Building, and Cooperation.

The score of 99.27 per cent indicates that Ghana improved upon its ratings under the differ­ent pillars compared to the 2020 GCI rankings in which Ghana was rated at 86.69 per cent, placing it third in Africa after Mauritius and Tanzania.

Ghana’s role model status in the GCI, it said was a testament to its leadership in several key areas such as Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038) which remains the benchmarking legislation for the global south, implementation of key provisions of the law, includ­ing licensing and accreditation of Cybersecurity Service Providers, Establishments, and Professionals for which Ghana is the second country in the world to implement this industry protocol.

Regarding the Protection of Critical Information Infrastruc­tures (CIIs), it noted that the CSA had been safeguarding Ghana’s critical systems essential to the digital economy with the responsi­bility including the developing and operationalising a risk management framework for CIIs and govern­ment digitalisation initiatives and­coordinating crisis management.

On institutional arrangements, the Joint Cybersecurity Committee (JCC) and soon to be launched In­dustry Forum pursuant to section 81 of Act 1038 exemplifies effec­tive coordination between public and private sectors in addressing cybersecurity challenges.

Revision of the National Cy­bersecurity Policy and Strategy: This provides a clear direction and implementation plan for Ghana’s cybersecurity development.”

Touching on institutionali­sation of the Annual National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM), the statement said the initiative, along with other capaci­ty-building efforts for law enforce­ment, public and private sector institutions, and academia, reflects Ghana’s commitment to enhancing cybersecurity awareness and skills.

Development of the Comput­er Emergency Response Team (CERT) Ecosystem Promoting incident response and coordination it noted was critical to national cybersecurity.

On Cybercrime Reporting Mechanisms it said Deployment of Cybercrime/Cybersecurity Incident Reporting Points of Contacts (PoCs) and issuance of monthly public alerts to guide the public.

Regarding International Coop­eration, the statement said Ghana had been recognised as a hub for training and capacity building for the sub-region by entities such as the European Union, Council of Europe (COE), the World Bank, and ECOWAS with Ghana hosting numerous international capacity-building programmes and contributed to global cooperation efforts by sharing knowledge and experience on platforms like the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, and Global Cybersecurity Forum.

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