State Response to Cyber Threats in Africa: An Examination of Ghana’s Cybersecurity Strategy

Abstract

The dawn of the internet-based digital era has connected global communication in the last two decades and made cyberspace more mobile, shared and integrated into human lives. However, the security concerns associated with cyber technology have engendered its securitization. Response mechanisms towards cyberspace management have equally witnessed global recognition, with developing African states not being the exception. Given the critical role of the state in this management process, Ghana has fashioned out strategies aimed at managing the space, and the extent to which the strategy adequately addresses this objective constituted the central question for By adopting the structuration paradigm of knowledge construction and the neo-institutionalism theoretical framework and utilizing a qualitative research approach with both primary and secondary data, the study made some important findings. Significantly, the study found that but for the dominant cybersecurity threats, the African cyber ecosystem in general and specifically Ghana, is not distinct from the general cyber ecosystem. Cybercrime, social engineering, distributed denial of service, insider-related threats, ransomware and data breaches are identified as the major cybersecurity threats in Ghana. The study further revealed that the Ghanaian state cyber management features domestic regulatory and institutional setups, as well as international and domestic collaborative mechanisms. Again, it showed that despite the gains afforded by Ghana's cybersecurity promotion, there have been some challenges. Key among these are the predominant anti-cybersecurity socio-cultural practices in the country, funding inadequacies, cyber skills and infrastructural gaps and lack of cyber awareness. Theoretically, the study also established the need to consider both the domestic peculiarities, which comprise norms (formal and informal), and formal international structures for States' cyber threats management. This conclusion is in sync with the core structuration philosophical paradigm and the neo-institutionalism theory's call for attention to dual structures in knowledge construction and understanding. Based on the findings, the study recommended continued regional and domestic collaborations, a revision of Ghana’s cybersecurity management and implementation strategies by incorporating both formal and informal institutional mechanisms and the development of response strategies that consider local threat dynamics.