As the plight against cybersecurity continues to thrive, so do compliance standards around this from a judicial, political and organisational perspective. While regions such as Kenya and Nigeria have demonstrated awareness around the integration of cybersecurity issues and solutions at judicial and industry level – the continent at large is impacted.
Placing spotlight on the financial services industry (FSI), Microsoft in partnership with Innovare recently hosted a workshop in Ghana with the purpose of demonstrating that the organisations standards are compliant with the country’s cybersecurity regulations – specifically in line with those set out by the bank of Ghana.
The directive was created with the aim of ensuring that institutions create a secure environment within the cybersecurity landscape for the financial services industry and generate adequate trust and confidence in ICT systems as well as transactions in the ‘cyberspace’. Furthermore, it is also meant to strengthen the regulatory framework for ensuring a secure environment.
The event discussed the status of cybersecurity in the region as well as Microsofts current compliancy with Ghana’s cybersecurity regulations, aimed to not only shape the perception of and position of Microsoft as a thought leader for global best practices in cybersecurity, but also lead in the implementation of the policy set out.
Speaking of the day’s proceedings, John Edokpolo, Lead Commercial Attorney for Microsoft Emerging Markets stated that the organisation has always been cognisant of the ongoing commitment and investment into the security and trust space of companies and the evolving nature thereof. “Over the years we have continued to adapt our technology and solutions to suit the needs to the various organisations in various regions who make use of them.”.
“In today’s digital world, trust is more important than ever. We at Microsoft pride ourselves on being an industry leader in transparency and trusted cloud and are committed to delivering trusted, complete, secure and compliant cloud services to governments and organisations across the region. We have also earned the trust of companies and organisations worldwide of all sizes and across all industries,” continued Edokpolo.
The event equipped banks with the tools, knowledge, and understanding to benchmark, assess, and improve their enterprise risk management program. “To be able to present to those in attendance and see their interest was rather exciting. Like Microsoft, Innovare shares the commitment to privacy and security of an individual’s data. Both parties believe that the digital information its customers create and store using cloud services is and remains the property of the customer and is entitled to the same privacy protection as paper records sent by mail or stored in a safe,” said Government Affairs Director, Microsoft Nigeria and Ghana, Rimini Makama.
Both Microsoft and Innovare were and are excited at the possibilities and awareness that the workshop will bring going forward. Being complaint to regulations set out in the region will only mean that organisations are able to carry out business as usual and be thoroughly protected against any attempts that threaten data privacy and security.
“Our approach to cloud services and transparency provides customers with confidence their data will be kept secure, private and meet industry compliance requirements. We hope that Ghana and the rest of the continent going forward will embrace these technologies as they remain complaint in their day to day organisational activities,” concludes Edokpolo.
