Tanzania has been named the second-best winner in Africa for providing solutions to various cyber-attacks, according to the Geneva-based International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Global Cyber Security Index for 2020, which was recently released. The index details the commitment of global states to providing technical advice and mitigation systems to various cyber security threats.

According to the ITU Report, which was provided to Dr. Jabiri Bakari, Director General of the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), Tanzania ranked second in the African Region for the Global Cyber Index (GCI), with a score of 90.58, behind first-place Mauritius, which received an overall score of 96.89. Ghana finished third best in Africa with a score of 86.69.

Dr. Bakari expressed his gratitude for the nation's excellent performance, noting that cyberwar posed a genuine threat to the social and economic advancement of the people and the state both domestically and internationally.

The TCRA DG asserted that cyberattacks were more dangerous and detrimental as they do not require the physical presence of the criminal attacker; he noted that, there is no distance limit and the attackers target vital infrastructures of nations, institutions, and individual’s causing unprecedented extensive damage.

Tanzania's win in the Score ranking took into account a number of important cyber security criteria, including Rules and Regulations on Cybercrime and Cybersecurity, Measuring Implementation of Technical Capabilities Through National and Sector Specific Agencies, Measuring the National Strategies and Organizations Implementing Cybersecurity, Capacity Development that Involves Measuring Awareness Campaigns, Training, Education, and Incentives for Cybersecurity Capacity Development, Level of Competence, and Cybersecurity.

"As we become more reliant on "digital lifelines," the demand for safe and secure cyberspace has grown more critical than ever. Finding methods to effectively connect with one another in the face of uncertainty, worry, and change has been one of the biggest difficulties of the COVID-19 epidemic,” according to Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN body with expertise in ICTs, launched the Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI), a project that was developed and improved by the work of a wide range of experts and collaborators from across many nations and other international organisations. When GCI was initially introduced in 2015, few people could have predicted the scenario that nations are currently in.