The Key Line of Defense Against Mounting Cyber Threats in Ethiopia

Cybercrime has been on the rise in Ethiopia and elsewhere in the world causing substantial financial losses, business interruptions, and impairment to the reputation of endangered companies. Official reports from Information Network Security Agency (INSA) officials indicated that Ethiopia has recorded more than 2,800 cyber-attack attempts during the year 2021, cataloging an alarming increase in such attacks, which is more than double the 1,080 similar cyber-attack attempts recorded during the previous year. Observing the cyber risks affecting Ethiopia, the agency cautioned companies to reinforce their cyber security systems to safeguard against imminent challenges. We have also heard that cyber attacks have been increasing in the country principally in association with the second filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

Fast-growing companies and startups were once the preserve of Silicon Valley and Seattle. No longer. Today, the United States boasts several innovation hotspots, including Austin, Miami, New York City, and Washington, DC. In recent years, similar hubs have also emerged in Europe, including Amsterdam, Berlin, Helsinki, London, Paris, and Stockholm. But this phenomenon is no longer limited to the advanced economies of the West. In fact, startup culture has gone global.

COVID-19 has sharpened the focus on many challenges with which the world has long been grappling, including rising inequality, insufficient access to adequate health care and education, and climate change. Long before the pandemic, people had begun to ask hard questions about globalization and technological progress. Despite all the wealth creation and reductions in global poverty in recent decades, economic opportunity has remained elusive for many people, irrespective of their abilities. The resulting fracturing of society poses a grave threat to the long-term health of businesses, citizens, and economies.