Liquid Telecoms has unveiled a cyber security unit in response to the rise in cyber security threats during the COVID-19 period and following research by the telecoms giant last month which concluded that cyber security threats were on a rise during the COVID-19 period where companies had to adapt to changing circumstances, with most workers now operating from home. Newsday news editor Everson Mushava (ND) caught up with Winston Ritson, (WR) the Liquid Telecoms head of Cloud Services to discuss wide ranging issues regarding cyber security. ND: Zimbabwe is proposing a new cyber bill; does your study speak to some of the issues raised in that bill? WR: The Draft Cybersecurity and Data Protection Bill seeks to consolidate cybercrimes, curb cyber-related crimes and provide for data protection. We are trying to prepare customers for compliance with the provisions of the Bill to the extent that they provide security measures for the detection and prevention of cyber-attacks, resulting in more secure data protection. ND: Zimbabwe is one of the countries in Africa that in recent times has been a victim of cyber security breaches with government, institutions and private companies falling victim. How does your study help to address such issues? WR: Liquid Telecom commissioned a research that looked at the state of cybersecurity in South Africa and Kenya specifically. The research was conducted to understand what the main pain points for businesses are currently and if we can assist customers in overcoming them. The findings were very much in line with our own industry understanding, reaffirming that we can assist customers and enterprises with end-to-end cyber security through the Liquid Telecom Trifecta: · Secure People – a product that focuses of training employees for mitigating and identifying security risks to the business · Secure Access – This allows businesses to empower their employees to work from any location knowing that the security measures put in place will alert and prevent any cyber-attacks, resulting in peace of mind for the customers. · Secure Systems – allowing businesses to evaluate, architect, design and implement a secure cloud environment while monitoring all cyber threats, internal or external. ND: In recent years; we have had cases of banks in Africa and internationally falling victim to cyber theft. How can banks mitigate that risk? WR: Implementing a full end-to-end solution is the best way for banks to manage risk. Security remains the single biggest concern of being in the cloud, particularly amid the latest spate of data breaches. Our offering strictly gives end to end security unit services for digital security solutions, adding that it is designed to protect users at every intersection of their digitally transformed business, including network, people and systems. Banks need to focus on training staff to ensure they can identify and report any malicious attackers or attacks on the bank’s infrastructure. Layered on top of that the banks have to build out a cloud architecture that relies on clou