Interpol’s Love Affair with African Cybercriminals

also ft Ghana's banger cybersec policy

Olatunji Olaigbe

and

Adebola Makinde

Oct 05, 2024

CybAfriqué is a space for news and analysis on cyber, data, and information security on the African continent.

Hi, Olatunji here!

Long time no see. As I mentioned weeks back, we are ramping things up at CybAfriqué. Last week, we established a presence on major social media networks. We believe the digital community square is a pivotal space to 1, engage more everyday people in our work and 2, challenge our understanding and perspectives.

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— Olatunji

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Interpol’s love affair with African cybercriminals

France-based International Criminal Police Organization, Interpol has been at the forefront of Africa-wide crackdown on cybercriminals in the past few years. On the first of this month, the organization disclosed that it arrested eight cyber offenders in Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire. In July, a financial fraud activity led to the arrest of 300 mostly Nigerians. In 2022, it also led a crackdown on the Black Axe Group, which led to the arrest of 75 suspects across the continent and a syndicate bust that led to the arrest of seven individuals in Nigeria. In another report, the police organization nabbed 103 fraudulent operators.

Most of this can be traced back to the launch of the INTERPOL’s Africa desk, called the African Joint Operation against Cybercrime (AFJOC) which was first launched in May 2021 (and renewed in 2024) to partner with local enforcement and boost the capacity of 49 African countries to fight cybercrime. Earlier in 2017, Interpol also launched its West Africa Police Information System (WAPIS) program to partner with law enforcement agencies in the West African region and aid information exchange and coordination.

By the end of 2023, Interpol had seized a total of EUR 3.35M according to publicly accessible data. This year, it has aggregated financial losses of USD 3.4M or EUR 3.09M. Interpol’s operations in West Africa are funded mostly by the EU and UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, with intelligence support from cybersecurity firms like Group-IB.

This highlight has me thinking about this 2016 graph from a report by Symantec and the African Union, ranking African countries by how many attacks come from them. I wonder what an up to date graph will look like now.

Domestic actions against surging cybercrime are not making many headlines due to their hyper-local context. However, there has been upskilling, awareness, and recent formulation of cybersecurity strategies across many countries.

ICYMI: African countries on 'ambiguous' cyber regulations

What to know about Ghana’s Cybersecurity Policy

On October 1, Ghana released its National Cybersecurity Policy and Strategy (NCPS). This was created according to the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) Global Cybersecurity Agenda guideline for cybersecurity development.

Source: Modern Ghana

In 2021, the Cyber Security Authority (CSA), an agency within the Ghana Ministry of Communications and Digitization commenced operations within the provisions of the Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038). Recently, the agency also granted 51 industry players cybersecurity licenses.

The West African country has an e-bureau created in 2021 to help facilitate cybercrime investigations. And ranked Tier 1 status in the 2024 Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) by ITU. This category is granted to countries that have developed policy frameworks and measures to eradicate cyber crimes. Ghana is the first West African country to achieve the tier 1 category, other African countries in this category are Morocco, Mauritius, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Egypt.

These policy and practical frameworks point towards a promising future, as Ghana is still plagued with major cyber attacks from the ‘Sakawa boys’ prominently known for romance scams. In the first half of 2023, the country recorded financial losses of $4.32 million.

FEATURES

In Nigeria, disinformation is a propaganda tool used to push anti-democratic narratives. Digital researcher Silas Jonathan found that a Russian-associated secessionist individual amplified false narratives stirring tribal dissent and disruption of civic responsibility in the recent Nigerian presidential election.

Ghana is witnessing a change in its agricultural sector with younger people embracing technologies such as AI drones to farm. This article says it poses risks to data privacy.

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Breaking: Tanzania suspends Kenya’s NMG websites for 30 days - TechCabal

Nigeria approves ban on local exclusive VoD content, $13,000 hate speech fine - Techpoint Africa

An Open Letter to the Cyber Community on the Eve of Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2024 - Modern Ghana
Dual Citizen of Nigeria and UK sentenced to 7 years relating to charges of high-level Business Email Compromise (BEC) schemes in North Carolina and Texas.

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