CIOs play a key role in security

Kenya is preparing to host the CIO Africa Summit, a conference designed specifically with the CIO in mind, which will explore and define the emerging disciplines critical to organisational effectiveness to compete on a global scale ‚ one of these being security.

Says Sergey Novikov, head of EEMEA Research Centre, Kaspersky Lab: ‚Given East Africa’s recent Internet connectivity boom, with the landing of SEACOM, it’s interesting to note that the number of security infections in Kenya has increased approximately 10 times since the landing of the fibre cable and roughly 4 times during the last 6 months. What’s more, today Kenya ranks number 1 on the list of East African countries for computers that are infected with dangerous threats and malicious viruses.‚

Such statistics are cause for major concern as hackers infect computers to gain access to private and important information, from personal banking details to company data bases and information that should not be shared.

‚Looking at the number of security detections in East Africa during the last eight months, Kenya ranked in first place with 40%, Tanzania in second place with 14% and Ethiopia in 11th place with 1.1%. However, on an international scale, in terms of security threats, Kenya has less than 1% and ranks at 37th place, but the percentage of infected computers in Kenya is one of the highest,‚ continues Novikov.

‚The threat landscape continues to change and the conference will bring together pertinent market players to discuss investments in strategic IT initiatives to maximise efficiency and define the challenges and opportunities of IT security for the continent, making its findings a critical component for all CIOs operating in Africa, to consider. CIOs have a priority role to play in security and they need to understand this role now more than ever. As more digitisation takes place and more broadband becomes available, security becomes more of a challenge and CIOs need to ensure that not only are they on top of industry threats and developments, but that they work closely with skilled and professional security officers, educating staff and managers around the dangers and how to patch systems and remain security wise.‚

Taking place at the Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, The CIO Africa Summit will bring together CIOs who are currently investing in innovative solutions which will positively impact their bottom line to meet with solution providers who will need to position themselves at those precise IT investment hot-spots to reap the benefits. While CIOs in Africa will look to budget IT spend effectively, their investments must emphasise the use of IT to put their organisations in a competitive position during these game changing times.

‚As a leading provider of secure content solutions, Kaspersky Lab is proud to be part of this all important conference and feel that our participation not only enables us to share our immense knowledge and expertise, but allows us to actively participate in addressing the most topical and pressing security issues to improve not only the role of the CIO, but also African business development going forward,‚ concludes Novikov.