Workshop 10: Policies and strategies on cybersecurity and cybercrime

Over the past years, the African countries are facing increasingly cyberattacks and other forms of cybercrime. According to INTERPOL African cyberthreat assessment report 2024, “it is estimated that in 2023, there was a 23 per cent year-on-year increase in the average number of weekly cyberattacks per organization in Africa. This average was the highest in the world.” Alongside homogeneous legislation and efficient criminal justice response, addressing cyberattacks also requires a comprehensive cybersecurity component, translated into robust policies and strategies, reporting mechanisms, security measures and resilience of critical infrastructure, among others. Cooperation between cybersecurity entities responsible for handling cyber incidents and criminal justice authorities responsible for further investigations and prosecutions is key to frame a coherent response to this phenomenon. Moreover, in the process of shaping the national digital agenda, governments need to ensure the protection of their citizens and critical infrastructure from cyber-threats in a manner that respects human rights, including by developing common strategies and action plans for implementing concreate measures.

The workshop will showcase the progress made in the region, particularly on how policies and strategies ensure a multidisciplinary approach in tackling cybercrime. Also on how these policies and strategies frame  cooperation at the strategic and operational level between cybersecurity actors and criminal justice authorities.