By Andrew Ndhlovu
Lilongwe, November 12, Mana: Minister of Information, Civic Education and Communication Technology, Mark Botomani has described abuse of internet through, among other ills, spreading fake news as a threat to national security.
He was speaking at a cyber security management workshop in Lilongwe on Tuesday. He said the abuse of internet by circulating misleading information can put people’s lives in danger.
“Internet has brought threats to the nation, hence the government has brought experts from United Kingdom to drill our experts on how best they can handle cyber security crimes in the country,” Botomani said.
He further said government has developed ICT policies, regulations and laws some of which have passed in Parliament and the President has assented to them.
“Passing the law is one thing and implementing it is another issue altogether. We are trying to find ways of strengthening the laws so that nobody will be abusing internet by posting fake news on social media,” Botomani said.
He added it is a big task that government is taking and believed that it can be tackled for the sake of national security.
“We have Malawi Defence Force and Malawi Police Service also taking part in the workshop who may know what is happening around the globe and be able to know issues concerning cyber security crimes,” said the minister.
In his remarks, Deputy British High Commissioner to Malawi, Matthew Harkworth said the world needs to come together to deal with cyber security crimes.
“This kind of workshop is very important as it helps countries to come together and share ideas on how best we can deal with cyber security crimes as no one can do it on their own,” Halksworth said.
The Deputy High Commission added that cyber attack can affect anybody if not taken care of unless every system is secured for the betterment of our countries.