The Rwandan government has launched a national cyber security campaign to raise public awareness regarding crime committed via the Internet
The initiative is being driven by the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and the Ministry of Youth and ICT.
"We want Rwandans to know all the cyber security threats so that they find ways to protect themselves," Charles Mugisha, RDB's acting head of cyber security was quoted as saying by Rwanda's New Times.
He added that while cyber crime in Rwanda was still at a relatively low level, Internet users still face a multitude of threats online, including fraud.
Public institutions and schools will form the main focus of the campaign.
"The programme is intended to educate Rwandans how they can protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of systems and data while on the Internet, and their role in protecting national information assets," said Mugisha.
He added that the awareness of potential security threats was essential as important banking, government, commerce and agricultural service are all reliant on ICT.
"A serious cyber security incident could severely impact all sectors of the economy," said Mugisha. "That's why we need to educate citizens to reduce the likelihood of such a security breach."
National cyber security programmes were allocated more than US$8.76mn in Rwanda's 2013/14 budget.
