The fight against cybercrime requires trust and commitment

A resolution sanctioned by delegates to the just-concluded 26th World Economic Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, putting emphasis on committed cooperation between the private and public sectors signified a resolve in combating the scourge.

Delegates to the Kigali Forum that included leaders from public and private sectors in addition to representatives from law-enforcement agencies agreed among other issues to create a permanent and secured information sharing channels between law enforcement authorities and the private sector.

The pledge is timely, commendable and applicable, only that it requires practical application beyond speech-making. Again, the advanced system of Information and Communication Technological (ICT) offers methods to trace any coded information before the crime is committed.

Africa and the world at large need to think deeply how to outsmart crooks in cybercrime. The fact that the perpetrators of cybercrime often employed coded means of communication to dodge the authorities, experts should strive to be a step ahead to unravel any veiled exchange of information.

For example, the deadly September 11, 2001 Twin Tower destruction in the USA, which left hundreds of people dead, or the horrific twin bomb blasts in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi in August 1998, were definitely preceded by coded communication.

Perhaps the respective communication and regulatory authorities in those countries made little effort decode the messages. As a result organized crime was committed, causing massive devastation to property and loss of lives. From that day on business is no longer as usual.

We insist that the global fight against cybercrime requires trust and commitment due to the fact that cyber criminals enjoy support from individuals the world might consider innocent.

Apart from huge global monetary loss due to cybercrime, the most painful part is loss of human life. Terror operatives continue to wreck havoc because they are closely linked to organized crime which is sustained through cyber communication.

For example, who provides Nigerian Boko Haram with supplies of ammunition and other provisions? Who ensures the survival and sustainability of operations of Somalia’s Al-Shabab or the Afghan Taleban, who sponsor suicide bombing and abduction of innocent people, including children? Obviously there are people making money out of other people’s agony and misery.

It is gratifying now that the world feels the obligation to come together to chart out strategies against cybercrime. But it should be understood that the agents of destruction might be in the group(s) seeking solution to this global challenge.

Therefore, it requires bold chastise to weaken the supply lines and stop the bigotry among those who talk about peace but dish out hostilities in action.

Cybercrime hurts humanity that global experts, politicians, clerics and other stakeholders are expected to cherish. We believe any methodical prevention of cybercrime will not have contempt for diplomatic measures to address the frustration of the guilty in order to make the world a better place to live.