By Makutu Manneh
The Gambia Cyber Security Alliance has commenced five-months training for personnel of the Gambia Armed Forces on Cyber security.
The training which started on Thursday, 11 January 2024 seeks to equip the country’s armed forces with knowledge and skills to defend against cyber warfare and threats.
Amadou Bah, President of The Gambia Cyber Security Alliance speaking at the opening of the training, said it is important for members of the Gambia Armed Forces to note that gone are those days where states will stand against each other to launch weapons of mass destruction from one angle to the other, adding that in the next phase of this world, they will not be seeing such because everything is going to be cyber warfare which has already begun.
Since this is already occurring, he said the GCSA and the African Cyber Security Alliance believes it is important for Africa not to be left behind, and if they are not to be left behind, they have to ensure their security forces are equipped with the prerequisite knowledge and technical capacity to be able to handle these situations.
He added that in supporting the government, they are committed to equipping the security forces to stay one step ahead of the civilian population.
Bah added that since GCSA was formed in 2014, they have been engaging and conducting series of capacity programmes, particularly on means to combat cybercrime at national level through the provision of technical capacity building for Gambia Police Force, which they started with late IGP Mamud Jobe.
“Today I can happily report to you that the Gambia Police Force has one of the most vibrant cybercrime units in this sub-region when it comes to cybercrime investigations within the sub-region,” he said.
“This is very important because we need to understand the cyber space is one big virtual world where a lot of things can go wrong and if such crises happen, there are key important sectors that we usually fall back.”
Major Momodou A. Jallow, Gambia Armed Forces Acting Director of Communication and IT representing the CDS, commended The Gambia Cyber Security Alliance for initiating such training for GAF personnel.
He said this is the first time GAF personnel are trained on cyber security, which he said, is important in ensuring cyber resilience of the Armed forces as they are in an era where cyber landscape is evolving.
“Today’s training marks a significant step forward for equipping our personnel with the skills and knowledge needed to defend against in the growing era of cyber challenges. As the guidance of our Nation Security, it is imperative for our personnel to have the skills and knowledge to counter cyber space threat,” he said.
He said GCSA commitment to fastening cyber secure environment aligns with their vision to protect the sovereignty and interest of The Gambia, adding that the skills their personnel will acquire from the training will reinforce their defence capability both in physical and virtual domains.
Major Jallow called on the participants to approach the training with the same dedication and professionalism that characterized the Gambia Armed Forces as the skills they are about to acquire from the training will fortify their collective ability to protect their digital affairs.
Sansui Drammeh, Director of Cyber security at the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy, said the Gambia cannot escape the fact that they are digitally engulfed and that being the case, they need to ensure that all relevant stakeholders are brought onboard to play their quarter.
“I can assure you that the ministry is ensuring that they put in place a conducive and enabling environment for cyber security to thrive because they know the cyber security is crosscutting measures to ensure digitalization prosper,” he said.
Drammeh said their security is important because without security, they cannot talk about cyber security and that they need to make sure the army is prepared to protect the country’s cyber space.
