Blog
Different Land, Different Cultures –
Same, But Worse, Problems
By Adnan Baykal
Last week, I had an opportunity to attend AfricaCERT XII and present about what the Global Cyber Alliance has been working on to better the security posture of Africa. What I quickly realized, after listening to most of the presentations and training sessions, was they are facing exactly the same issues we are facing – but more. They also must deal with significant physical security challenges which over-complicates everything.
Adnan Baykal, presenting at AfricaCERT XII
Awareness is the key, and due to the amazingly rich cultures, languages and religions, coupled with physical security issues, Africa is faced with and presents a different set of challenges to the Internet community. However, the good news is there are a lot of dedicated individuals who are trying to do the right thing by getting together and sharing information. Many experts from the west, to the east, to natives are fighting the good fight, mostly volunteering their limited time to better the Internet in Africa and make it available to everyone.
This is where I believe the GCA DNS Service can add significant value to these efforts in Africa – small to medium-sized organizations, educational institutions, and governments, as well as ISPs. The GCA DNS Service, “Internet Immunity,” adds significantly more value to those organizations who are not mature in cyber security by enabling them to get protection from most of the common cyber attacks and infections. This gives them breathing room to focus on other more significant issues.
I met and had great discussions with many dedicated individuals and organizations during my time in Nairobi. I look forward to extending the global reach of GCA’s free solutions by working with them to assist and better protect Africa. And Africa is not alone. There is much work to be done!
The author, Adnan Baykal, is the Global Technical Advisor at the Global Cyber Alliance. You can follow him on Twitter @adnan_baykal81.
