ICT Officers have been asked to be alert against rising cases of cyber crimes.

The remarks were made by the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) Director of Corporate Services Arthur Liwonga during the opening of weeklong cyber security training for ICT specialists from various Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

Liwonga said the training follows continued cyber threats affecting the management of information and ICT equipment in organizations.

“You can appreciate that as NLGFC we handle a lot of information for the central government as well as councils to ensure maximum protection so, administrators need to insulate and ring face information systems before any cyber attacks”, said Liwonga.

In his speech during the orientation, Specialist for ICT services at the NLGFC, Stevie Chapola said that Cyber security covers not only safeguarding confidentiality and privacy, but also the availability and integrity of data, both of which are vital for the quality and safety of care.

“Cyber-breaches are costly to institutions – in terms of expense, recovery time and also through damage to reputation,” said Chapola.

Chapola also asked the experts to stay alert and invest their energies in advocating for good practice in the use and management of the ICT resources to avoid attacks that come out of lack of knowledge by ICT users.

In an interview, UBR Manager Kondwani Mjumira said, The training had also looked at ways to secure the Unlimited Beneficiary Registry (UBR) data. The UBR is a database that keeps household data.

“It is expected the database will keep data for every Malawi household at the end of its implementation”, said Mjumira.

The Government of Malawi, through the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development and the Public Sector Reform delegated the NLGFC to oversee the development and implementation of the Social Registry.

The cyber security training was attended by ICT experts from NLGFC, E- Government and several selected councils in Mangochi. The training was facilitated by the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority [MACRA].