The Takoradi Technical University (TTU) in an anticipation of the increasing global cybersecurity threat to businesses and the opportunities that come with finding solutions to the threat, has collaborated with Cyber Security Ghana to open a Cyber Security Centre at TTU.
Speaking to Citi News on the sidelines of the inauguration of the centre, the Vice-Chancellor of TTU, Reverend Professor John Frank Eshun said the centre reinforces TTU’s determination to become a centre of excellence and a technical institution that help in addressing problems of today.
“We are in a digitized world now and Ghana is trying to digitize our activities. So as a higher training institution seeking to be a centre of excellence, we need to be ahead to train our youth in cybersecurity to be able to protect cyberspace. It is envisaged that the centre will train many people who will help unravel the myth behind cyber-crime, digital forensics and other cyber-related issues which confront our nation today. The centre will offer prospective students certificates and Diplomas in cyber programmes… This state-of-the-art centre will serve as an employment avenue for our teaming graduates looking to start their enterprises”, he said.
Reverend Professor Eshun while thanking and assuring Cyber Security Ghana of a fruitful partnership with the centre, said cybersecurity is a shared responsibility.
“In cybersecurity, the more systems we secure, the more secure we all are. It is in this vein that I indulge our security agencies, banks and the general public to patronize the services of the centre to ensure its sustenance since cybersecurity concerns us all”, he added.
While the state-of-the-art TTU cybersecurity centre is expected to produce professionals to deal with cyber threats to Ghanaian businesses, the Assistant Manager of Cyber Security Ghana, David Davor, said it is also an opportunity to benefit from the global growth in cybersecurity jobs.
“One of the reasons this centre was brought up started with research that we conduct. There are over 4.8 million Cyber Security job openings globally currently available, but we don’t have the needed skills to fill those cybersecurity job openings. Even that number is expected to increase by an additional 2.3 million by the end of 2021. So this centre is going to help to train people with the skills that they need to be able to get some of these jobs openings and this is going to give them better livelihood. Frankly, Cyber Security pays well“, he said.
The Takoradi Divisional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner Yao Tettegah, who spoke on fraud cases at the inauguration of the centre cautioned the youth to use technology to benefit the business community and also advised businesses to do background checks of persons they engage to manage their cyber systems.
To encourage interest in cybersecurity engineering among the youth, Cyber Security Ghana also established a Cyber Security club at the Archbishop Porter Girls.
