The Weak Cyber Framework: Critical Assessment Of Ghana’s Cybersecurity

While Ghana has made notable strides in establishing cybersecurity frameworks, a critical examination reveals significant shortcomings that undermine the effectiveness of these institutions. This analysis identifies key deficiencies and proposes necessary improvements to strengthen Ghana’s cyber resilience.

Directorate of Cyber and Electronic Warfare Operations: Structural Limitations

The Ghana Armed Forces’ Directorate of Cyber and Electronic Warfare Operations suffers from several critical weaknesses:

• Insufficient Funding: Despite ambitious mandates, the Directorate operates with inadequate financial resources, limiting its ability to acquire cutting-edge technologies and attract top cybersecurity talent. The allocated budget represents less than 3% of the overall military expenditure, reflecting a disconnect between stated priorities and actual resource allocation.
• Outdated Technology Infrastructure: Much of the Directorate’s hardware and software infrastructure lags behind current threat capabilities. Systems designed for threats from 3-5 years ago are ineffective against today’s sophisticated attack vectors.
• Unclear Organizational Authority: The Directorate faces bureaucratic challenges stemming from overlapping jurisdictions with other security agencies. This fragmentation creates coordination difficulties and slows response times during critical incidents.

Needed Improvements: The Directorate requires significant budget increases earmarked specifically for technology modernization. A clearer delineation of authority between military and civilian cybersecurity agencies would enhance operational efficiency. Additionally, establishing rapid response protocols would address the current sluggish reaction to emerging threats.

Joint Cybersecurity Committee: Implementation Failures

Despite its establishment in 2020, the Joint Cybersecurity Committee has failed to deliver on several of its core mandates:

• Irregular Meeting Schedules: Reports indicate the Committee meets quarterly at best, rather than maintaining the monthly schedule outlined in its charter. This infrequency prevents timely threat intelligence sharing and coordinated responses.
• Limited Private Sector Integration: The Committee remains heavily government-focused, with minimal representation from critical private sector entities that control significant portions of Ghana’s digital infrastructure.
• Reactive Rather than Proactive Stance: The Committee has primarily responded to breaches after they occur rather than developing predictive threat models and preventative measures.

Needed Improvements: The Committee should adhere to its mandated monthly meeting schedule and expand private sector representation to include telecommunications providers, financial institutions, and technology companies. Developing an early warning system for emerging threats would shift its posture from reactive to proactive.

Cyber Security Authority (CSA): Regulatory Deficiencies

The CSA’s regulatory framework contains several critical gaps:

• Enforcement Limitations: The CSA lacks sufficient legal authority to penalize non-compliant organizations, resulting in inconsistent implementation of security standards across sectors.
• Skills Gap: The authority is understaffed with qualified cybersecurity professionals. Current staffing levels meet approximately 60% of the organization’s requirements, with particularly acute shortages in threat intelligence and forensic investigation roles.
• Inadequate Public Awareness Campaigns: Despite the acknowledged importance of public education, the CSA’s awareness programs reach less than 30% of internet users, leaving most Ghanaians vulnerable to basic social engineering attacks.

Needed Improvements: The CSA requires strengthened legislative backing with clear enforcement mechanisms and penalties for non-compliance. A comprehensive recruitment strategy targeting cybersecurity professionals, potentially including competitive salary structures, would address staffing deficiencies. Expanded public awareness campaigns, particularly targeting mobile users, would significantly reduce vulnerability to common attack methods.

Financial Industry Command Security Operations Centre (FICSOC): Operational Challenges

FICSOC faces several operational challenges that limit its effectiveness:

• Participation Gaps: While established as a sector-wide initiative, only 65% of eligible financial institutions actively participate, creating security blind spots across the financial ecosystem.
• Data Sharing Reluctance: Participating institutions often withhold critical breach information due to reputational concerns, compromising the collective defense model.
• Technical Integration Issues: Disparate systems across financial institutions create compatibility problems that delay threat information sharing, often by 24-48 hours – a critical period during active attacks.

Needed Improvements: The Bank of Ghana should mandate FICSOC participation for all licensed financial institutions. Anonymous reporting mechanisms would encourage more transparent sharing of security incidents. Technical standardization across participating institutions would facilitate real-time information exchange.

Ghana Navy’s Maritime Cybersecurity: Coverage Gaps

The Ghana Navy’s approach to maritime cybersecurity reveals significant vulnerabilities:

• Limited Integration with Digital Systems: While the over-the-horizon radar system represents an important advancement, it operates largely in isolation from other digital security systems, creating potential blind spots.
• Vessel Identification Challenges: The current system cannot reliably distinguish between vessels with similar profiles, particularly smaller craft operating in congested coastal areas.
• Training Deficiencies: Naval personnel receive inadequate training on cyber-physical systems, with courses covering only basic security protocols rather than advanced threat detection and mitigation.

Needed Improvements: The Navy should implement integrated maritime domain awareness systems that combine radar data with digital intelligence sources. Enhanced vessel profiling capabilities would improve identification accuracy. Comprehensive training programs focused specifically on maritime cybersecurity would address the current skills gap among naval personnel.

National Defence University: Early Implementation Challenges

The National Defence University, now operational after receiving its Presidential Charter in November, still faces significant challenges:

• Resource Constraints: Despite its official establishment, the NDU operates with limited resources that constrain its ability to fulfill its ambitious cybersecurity education mandate.
• Curriculum Development Gaps: While the university has launched, its cybersecurity curriculum requires further development to address the rapidly evolving threat landscape, particularly regarding emerging technologies and attack methodologies.
• Faculty Expertise Shortages: The university struggles to recruit and retain cybersecurity instructors with both academic credentials and practical experience, potentially compromising educational quality.
• Limited Research Capacity: The NDU’s research capabilities in cybersecurity remain underdeveloped, limiting its ability to contribute to Ghana’s indigenous cybersecurity knowledge base and technology development.

Needed Improvements: The NDU should establish dedicated funding streams for cybersecurity programs, develop industry partnerships to enhance curriculum relevance, implement competitive compensation packages for cybersecurity faculty, and create a dedicated cybersecurity research center with clear deliverables and metrics.

Strategic Recommendations

To address these systemic weaknesses, Ghana should implement the following comprehensive measures:

1. Develop a National Cybersecurity Funding Strategy: Establish dedicated funding streams for cybersecurity initiatives that are protected from general budget fluctuations.
2. Create a Unified Cyber Command Structure: Streamline authority and responsibility across military and civilian agencies to eliminate jurisdictional conflicts.
3. Implement Mandatory Security Standards: Establish legally enforceable security standards across critical infrastructure sectors with meaningful penalties for non-compliance.
4. Establish Public-Private Partnerships: Create formal collaboration frameworks between government agencies and private technology companies to leverage private sector expertise.
5. Launch Comprehensive Skills Development Programs: Invest in educational initiatives from secondary school through professional development to address the critical shortage of cybersecurity professionals.

Ghana’s cybersecurity institutions have established a foundation for digital defense, but without addressing these fundamental weaknesses, the country remains vulnerable to increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. Implementing these recommendations would significantly strengthen Ghana’s cybersecurity posture and better align capabilities with the country’s strategic ambitions in this critical domain.