Cybersecurity courses for Non-IT professionals on offer
Cybersecurity awareness short courses designed to help professionals in Botswana with no background in Information Technology (IT) tackle workplace cybersecurity risks and threats are being introduced.
The Basic and Advanced Cybersecurity for Non-IT Professionals courses, which have been developed by cybersecurity awareness organisation, Cybersmart Botswana in partnership with Core Knowledge Training and Consultants, are aimed at equipping professionals in the different non-IT fields with the understanding of cybersecurity and the skills to manage risks and prevent attacks, both at an individual and group level.
Cybersmart Botswana is a Gaborone based organisation that promotes cybersecurity awareness through public education campaigns, while Core Knowledge is a Botswana Qualifications Authority accredited training agency offering professional development courses.
Cybersmart Botswana Cybersecurity Awareness Specialist and Course Coordinator, David Moepeng says the two courses, which are registered with the Human Resource Development Council, are designed to cater for all professionals that use the internet and other digital technologies in the workplace and or to communicate with others.
“The Basic Cybersecurity for Non-IT Professionals courses is aimed at introducing professionals to cybersecurity, sensitising them about online safety and security risks, as well as educating them about effective cybersecurity practices and solutions.
“The Advanced course on the other hand, is intended to equip professionals with skills to develop workplace cybersecurity strategies and policies, as well as manage their organisation’s preparedness and response to cyber incidents effectively,” Moepeng told this publication. According to Moepeng, the courses were developed out of a realisation that as workplace digitalisation grows rapidly, cybersecurity is no longer a matter that only IT professionals should be concerned with as just about all professions now use digital technologies and are therefore vulnerable to cyberattacks.
“With the use of the internet now a part of almost every function of organisations, it is critical that all workers are equipped, at least at a basic level, with knowledge of cybersecurity risks so as to use technology safely and not expose their organisations and workplaces to cyberattacks,” he explained.
He advised that awareness education and training on workplace cybersecurity should cover all professionals, as long as they access and use workplace facilities such as computers, online accounts, including emails and social media, as well as WIFI-networks.
Moepeng added that any organisation’s cybersecurity is as strong as that of its least cautious employee as it can take just that employee’s erroneous or careless conduct to expose the entire organisation to cyberattacks.
“Cyber criminals are feeding on people’s low levels of cybersecurity awareness and risky online behaviours, including in workplaces. These criminals can maliciously manipulate their unsuspecting targets into making payments for fraudulent transactions, revealing personal or confidential organisational information or tricking them into clicking on links to malware infected sites, thereby exposing workplace networks and devices to attacks”, Moepeng cautioned.
He emphasised that human behaviour has become a major factor in cybersecurity as it is through habits and behaviours that organisations become exposed to cyberattacks or cybersecurity practices and cultures are formed. Risky online behaviours, Moepeng added, can be best tackled through awareness and behaviour change programmes.
A report by South African based cybersecurity awareness training and consultancy firm, KnowBe4 recently warned of dangerously low-levels of cybersecurity awareness in Africa. The report followed a study conducted in Botswana and seven other African countries that revealed that one out of every three employees is likely to click on a suspicious link or e-mail, or even comply with a fraudulent request.
Another study, also undertaken by KnowBe4 across 800 employees aged 18-54 in Botswana and four other African countries found that 74 per cent of workers were vulnerable to deepfakes. This is after the workers admitted to having believed that communication via email or direct message, or a photo or video, was true when, in fact, it was a deepfake.
This, according to Moepeng, is evidence to the need for organisations to urgently train their workforce on cybersecurity awareness.
For his part, Core Knowledge’s Training and Consultancy Director, George Mureithi said the cybersecurity awareness training courses will help organisations in Botswana to strengthen their risk management through enhanced skills within their workforce, particularly in the current times of proliferated cyber-attacks.
He said the courses will be conducted at the Botswana Digital and Innovation Hub Science and Technology Park, and that participation will be through registration. The two-day training workshop is scheduled for mid-June 2023. Special training workshops will also be offered for organisations that may want to book such programmes for their staff.