The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has indicated that while countries globally are making strides in cybersecurity, more decisive action is required to address evolving cyber threats.
This conclusion comes from the Global Cybersecurity Index 2024 report, released on Thursday by the ITU, a United Nations (UN) specialised agency for information and communication technologies.
According to the ITU, countries have generally improved their cybersecurity measures and commitments since the last index in 2021.
However, the report also highlights threats, including ransomware attacks targeting government services and other sectors, cyber breaches affecting core industries, costly system outages and breaches of privacy for individuals and organisations.
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“Building trust in the digital world is paramount,” ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin said.
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“The progress seen in the Global Cybersecurity Index is a sign that we must continue to focus efforts to ensure that everyone, everywhere can safely and securely manage cyberthreats in today’s increasingly complex digital landscape,” she added.
The index evaluates national efforts across five pillars: legal, technical, organisational, capacity development and cooperation.
It now includes a new five-tier analysis to better reflect each country’s advancements and impacts in cybersecurity.
Forty-six countries are placed in Tier 1, the highest tier, which signifies “role modelling” countries that show a strong commitment across all five cybersecurity pillars.
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Most countries, including Malawi, are categorised as either “establishing” (Tier 3) or “evolving” (Tier 4) their cybersecurity measures.
The 105 countries in these tiers have largely expanded digital services and connectivity but need to further integrate cybersecurity measures, according to the report.
“The Global Cybersecurity Index 2024 shows significant improvements by countries that are implementing essential legal measures, plans, capacity-building initiatives and cooperation frameworks, especially in strengthening incident response capabilities,” Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau, said.
The report details that Malawi scored 18.16 out of 20 on legal measures, 16.06 on technical measures, 17.37 on organisational measures, 12.26 on capacity development and 16.58 on cooperation measures in cybersecurity commitment.
This suggests that while legal and organisational measures are areas of relative strength, technical, capacity development and cooperation measures offer opportunities for growth.
Legal measures are noted as the strongest cybersecurity pillar for most countries, with 177 countries having at least one regulation related to personal data protection, privacy protection or breach notification either in force or in progress.
The report also notes an increase in national cybersecurity strategies, with 132 countries now having one, up from 107 in the 2021 index.
In Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Mauritius, Rwanda and Tanzania are the only countries in Tier 1, indicating they are role models in cybersecurity commitment.
Malawi, along with 14 other countries including Botswana, Mozambique and Uganda, is in Tier 3, which indicates establishing cybersecurity commitments.
Burundi, Central African Republic, Eritrea and Guinea-Bissau are in Tier 5, the lowest tier, showing they are still developing their cybersecurity laws and commitments.
The Malawi chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa has been advocating for a review of the Electronic Transactions and Cybersecurity law, arguing that it is being used by the government to suppress freedom of speech.
Recently, the State has used this law to arrest individuals suspected of committing online crimes.
However, there has been little progress in these cases, with some eventually being dropped.
Among those targeted were activist Bon Kalindo, Member of Parliament Kamlepo Kalua and Reverend Chimbilima Gondwe of the Livingstonia Synod of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian.
