[July 26, 2011] State Sets Up Cyber Crime Team Tweet Jul 26, 2011 (Nairobi Star/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- THE government has set up a computer emergency response team as a prerequisite to the consequent establishment of a fully fledged cyber crime combating department, Information Minister Sanuel Poghisio announced yesterday. He said increased cases of hacking and cyber crimes has not spared government websites calling for a policy on fighting such crimes. The team under the Communications Commission of Kenya also comprises ICT board officials and is currently auditing all government systems and data centres to advice on the right infrastructure needed to enhance security. "As the dependency on ICT increases, identifying and monitoring of risks involved in their use has become an important but challenging task," said Poghisio. Kenyan government officials are partnering with some cyber crime experts from various government departments of the US in preparing the infrastructure and policies for the cyber crime department that will be set up, Poghisio announced. He was speaking after opening the East African Workshop on cyber space security. The number of internet users in Kenya has increased from three million people to nine million over the last two years. Social media users on platforms like Facebook and Twitter among others increased from one million to five million as per Ministry of Information and Communications statistics. The workshop was told how internet users as well as most hackers and fraudsters on the net are increasingly accessing the internet via their mobile phones posing a new challenge in ensuring cyber space security. "As technology advances we are seeing evolution of the threat of cyber space security where hackers and fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated and grouping in organized networks worldwide," a US Department expert on cyber crime Chris Painter told the workshop. Painter said that to combat the cyber crimes, government in East Africa need to base their efforts on five key pillars. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]