Increased dependence on technology and the Internet has made cybersecurity a critical concern for individuals, companies and governments around the world. And Mozambique is no different.
It was with this in mind that Ernest & Young (EY), a consultancy, auditing, tax and transaction services company, held an event on Wednesday 18 October entitled “The need to modernise cybersecurity”, at which a number of points relating to cybersecurity in the country were raised.
According to Jorge Libório, who is responsible for EY’s cybersecurity services in Mozambique, Portugal and Angola, there is a lot of interest on the part of businesspeople in improving this aspect, since cyber risk has been growing. And in order to protect companies, it is necessary to improve governance and, above all, to train employees so that they know how to deal with this type of attack.
“Time is the biggest ally of cybercriminals and the main enemy of those trying to protect themselves from cyberattacks, because when there are no detection and response tools, attackers have more time to carry out the malicious tasks they set out to do. That’s why companies must ensure that their employees know how to react to these situations,” he explained.
The public and banking sectors are the ones that have suffered most from cyber attacks and, according to Jorge Libório, there are cases in which cybercrimes are carried out internally, through negligence or even on purpose. In this sense, he called for more vigilance on the part of companies.
“Security should not be seen as an obstacle to business, but rather as one of the keys or a lever to success. As such, companies must invest in governance and literacy, which will allow them to be more digitally resilient,” he emphasised.
Jorge Libório highlighted the zero trust model, also known as Zero Trust (ZTA), which brings the concept of “never trust, always verify”, meaning that users and devices should not be considered trustworthy by default, even if they are connected to an authorised network. ZTA also advocates mutual authentication, including verifying the identity and integrity of users regardless of their location, and also access to applications and services according to the user’s trust, the device’s identity and its integrity, in addition to user authentication.
“The principles of Zero Trust are simple in theory, but we have to ensure that we are resilient if something happens. Cyber maturity is a journey and no one can guarantee that we are completely safe. That’s why there is a need to implement this model,” concluded Jorge Libório.
The event was attended by several Mozambican entrepreneurs, who were able to share their experiences, as well as raise their doubts about cybersecurity.
EY is committed to leading the way in modernising cybersecurity, working closely with organisations from all sectors to strengthen them with protection mechanisms in the digital sphere.
