Hot on the heels of Tanzania which is moving to enforce cyber security laws especially in the field of e-payment is Rwanda whose cabinet has just approved its National Cyber Security Law.
According to New Times Rwanda the new law is meant to protect public and private infrastructure, personal information of web users, financial/banking information as well as sovereign data from cyber attack.
Included in the policy is strengthening the regulatory framework; promotion of research and development in cyber security; human resource development; creating cyber security awareness; and information sharing and cooperation.
With the policy government will also set up a department fully dedicated to fight cybercrime.
Didier Nkurikiyimfura, the Director General, ICT in the Ministry of Youth and ICT, “There is need to protect all infrastructure vital to the economy. Hacking, for example, is happening everywhere. It does not target governments alone, but also private individuals and businesses.”
He added: “The policy will establish an environment that will build trust and confidence when people use ICT. It will ensure that we have whatever it takes to protect our interests, and also ably collaborate with other countries because the threat is global.”
Nkurikiyimfura said the policy will now pave way for many things including building the requisite legal frameworks and capacity building to thwart cyber threats.
The DG said while it is difficult to ably quantify or assess losses or the damage caused in the past by cyber criminals as there was no such policy before, he stressed that the danger is real.