The country’s defence department said the service did not meet its standards, although it did not directly link the ban to security concerns.

“Software and applications that do not meet Defence standards will not be authorised for use on Defence networks and mobile devices,” the country’s defence department said in an email statement. “Defence has a strict policy concerning the use of social media on its networks and mobile devices. Defence allows very few applications on Defence mobile devices. WeChat has not been authorised for use. “

Late last year the US military banned the use of drones made by China’s DJI, the world’s largest maker of the devices, citing “cyber vulnerabilities.” Other Chinese technologies have come under scrutiny, with a plan by mobile phone maker Huawei for a tie-up with US telecoms firm AT&T falling through under US government pressure.

The Australian Financial Review newspaper reported last month that US security officials had voiced concerns about Chinese involvement in the development of fast 5G networks in Australia. Also in January the US blocked the US$1.2 billion sale of money transfer firm Moneygram to China’s Ant Financial, the digital payments arm of Alibaba, while in September Chinese-backed Canyon Bridge Capital Partners’ US$1.3 billion bid for Lattice Semiconductor was rejected.

Analysts said the ban on WeChat for military personnel was most likely a political move, but was in line with policies in other countries.

“It is obvious that Australia is standing on the same side as the US and follows its steps. The WeChat ban is more a political behaviour to show its support for the US,” said Li Yi, chief fellow at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

“However, it is understandable that the Australian defence department banned staff from using WeChat on concern over messages being monitored by the Chinese government,” Li said.

“It is the same story in most countries, where defence departments have to use authorised software. WhatsApp and Facebook are completely banned in China,” he said.

WeChat, owned by internet giant Tencent, has 1 billion monthly active users globally. Tencent did not reply to requests for comment.

However, the ban does not mean Australia is closed to business with China, others said.

“Australia could learn from WeChat as a payment system,” said Professor Greg Austin, acting director of the Australian Centre for Cyber Security at the University of New South Wales (Canberra).

“Huawei and ZTE will continue to capture market share in Australia regardless of whether the government blocks them from some projects on security grounds.”

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Source: South China Morning Post

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According to a Managing Partner at cyber security firm, Delta 3 International, Del Aden, the incident of cyber crime in Ghana will continue to rise unless businesses put effective counter measures in place.

He added that with increased digitization, the risks related to cyber security naturally increases.

“Unfortunately, organizations in Ghana are not immune to these risks, as such business leaders must take active steps to improve their organization’s readiness for these kinds of threats,” he said.

A report released by Kenyan-based IT firm, Serianu Limited, revealed that Ghana’s economy lost a total of US$50 million to cyber-crime in 2016.

Speaking to Citi Business News on the sidelines of the 4th edition of the Ghana Cyber Security Workshop, Mr. Aden reiterated that government must get involved to direct the fight against cyber crime.

“Businesses in Ghana stand to lose nearly 100 million dollars to cyber crime. That’s why everyone needs to sit up and implement effective measures of counter cyber crime,” he warned.

He observed that public institutions as well as financial institutions in the country are at a high risk of being attacked.

“Organizations that are normally attacked, like financial and public institutions, normally experience system disruptions and loss of money. Companies then spend a lot of man-hours in trying to recover lost information and also restore affected systems,” he said.

“If you have one company spending a few thousands and others spending similar amounts in reaction to cyber attacks, you’ll eventually realize that companies can lose millions in 2018,” he added.

Since its inception last year, Delta 3 have succeeded in training over five hundred employees from various organizations in Ghana.

The 4th edition of the Ghana Cyber Security Awareness Workshop was organized by Delta 3 International, a UK listed expert in I.T Solutions Architecture, Cyber Security and Risk mitigation.

The company focuses mainly on working with governments and businesses in Europe and Africa to protect their brand and value against the eve-evolving threat of cyber crime.

The company’s workshop was used to raise awareness about the need for corporate Ghana to take the subject of employee training on cyber security seriously.

The occasion was used to address the broader issue of Cybercrime in Digital Africa, as well as specific issues like Social Engineering, Ransomware, Identity Theft, Phishing among others.

Delta 3 International is set to hold two more Workshops this year. The first of which is an Incident Response Workshop on 20th March, 2108 and a Data Protection / Business Continuity Workshop on 19th April, 2018.

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By: Bobbie Osei/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana

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Google researchers said there were “serious security flaws” in chips made by Intel, AMD and ARM, affecting devices which use them.

The industry has been aware of the problem for months and hoped to solve it before details were made public.

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said there was no evidence that the vulnerability had been exploited.

Some fixes, in the form of things like software updates, have been introduced or will be available in the next few days, said Intel, which provides chips to about 80% of desktop computers and 90% of laptops worldwide.

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Source: BBC

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