AS businesses are increasingly shifting to online platforms, the government has assured of creating conducive cyberspace environment to protect businesspeople from cyber criminals.
In line with this, the Ministry of Information, Communication and Information Technology (MICIT) stated that efforts were ongoing including strengthening ICT systems and producing more ICT specialists.
“We want to make safe cyberspace so that users can be confident to use. We understand that through the online people do business, there is buying and selling, so money circulates,” Assistant Director of Cyber Security Unit in the ministry, Eng Stephen Wangwe, assured.
Mr Wangwe stated this over the weekend at a symposium organized in Dar es Salaam as part of activities to mark the World Postal Day along with the Annual Cyber Security Month Awareness 2022.
“During the Annual Cyber Security Month Awareness 2022 we have prepared various educative materials like flyers, booklets and others for educating the people,” Eng Wangwe said.
He said the government will ensure smooth e-services for any cross country business transactions and beyond borders via postal services.
Tanzania has celebrated the Cyber Security Month Awareness since its inception in year 2004, calling upon all countries around the globe to combat cyber threats which are competitively on the rise due to the technological advancement of e-services use.
This year’s theme “Cyber Security, it begins with you” which takes place worldwide in every month of October.
In his presentation, Eng Wangwe also educated the public on the ten general tips of securing private information when surfing and using online services, which included hints on password and protection of private information, things to do if becoming suspicious, cautious use of public WiFi and mobile devices, and others.
“We want our citizens to be aware of cyber threats, while ensuring their e-services are friendly, fast and secured as possible,” said Eng. Wangwe.
Mr Macrice Mbodo, Post Master General, expressed his enthusiasm on Cyber Security month awareness with the recognition of the World Postal Day and its postal services.
“As a national public postal operator, Tanzania Posts Corporation (TPC) not only focuses on mail, courier and parcel logistic services, but also ensures that all services are accessible using the National Physical Addressing System – NaPA and are securely delivered,” said the Post Master General.
A Cyber Security and Digital Forensics Expert from Tanzania, Mr Yusuph Kileo, said the online users need to be careful when using any public WiFi, as some of them may be maliciously interconnected to Cyber Trolls.
He added that when using public WiFi, users should ensure that password is required in accessing said WiFi, or else Virtual Private Network (VPN) is an alternative feature to consider.