The Namibian government has signed up to create an agency to appraise domestic communications network security concerns and evaluate the country’s vulnerabilities to cyber-attacks.
Ronel Le Grange on Wednesday said the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) “has commenced with engagement of all relevant stakeholders to ensure the establishment of a fully-fledged Namibia National Security and Cyber Incident Report Team, which will oversee the handling of cyber incidents in Namibia”.
This was after the country’s .na domain experienced a technical glitch during the upgrade system, sparking fears of cyber security breaches.
Although CRAN warned that there was an increase in brute cyber-attacks, the authority could not ascertain the number of individuals or organisations who have fallen victim to cyber-attacks.
“Kindly note that the .na domain system is administered by an independent registrar. Please contact the registrar for further details on the extent of the matter,” Le Grange said.
Meanwhile, ICT Deputy Minister Emma Theofelus told parliamentarians that what happened on October 4, 2022, was not a cyber-attack but a software glitch that occurred during a routine upgrade on the domain name system server for the .na domain.
“The glitch only affected data traffic routing; no websites with the domain .na were down, and no local telecommunications networks were breached. This issue was settled on the same day,” she said, adding that the DNS server for the .na domain is secure.
“Cybercrime is on the rise globally, owing to increased connectivity, remote working, reliance on technology, and automation. Namibia is not an exception to this global phenomenon. What complicates matters is that these types of crimes are typically committed by unknown individuals using information and communication technology (ICT) devices,” said Theofelus.
As a mitigating factor and to guard against crimes, the Deputy Minister noted that her Ministry is working on the Cybercrime Bill.
The purpose of the Bill, she said, is to establish a Computer Incident Response Team and to provide for its powers and functions.
“The Bill will further create offenses relating to computer and information systems, to provide those other offenses committed by or through computer or information systems be considered offenses, to provide for powers of investigation as well as for incidental matters,” she said.
“Although the Bill is critical in creating offences related to cybercrime, the Ministry will place a strong emphasis on educating citizens about the dangers of cybercrime and the importance of cybersecurity. As a result, the Namibian government developed the National Cybersecurity Strategy and Awareness Creation Plan, which was approved by Cabinet for implementation in March 2022,” she added.
