Corporate bodies must prioritise their data and put robust security control measures in place to protect them, Joseph Quaye, Cyber Security Analyst at E-Crime Bureau, has said.

That, he said, was very crucial to ensure that the data of corporate bodies were not hacked by hackers.

Mr Quaye gave the advice in an interview with the Ghanaian Times on the sidelines of a cybyer security forum for students of the Accra Technical University (ATU) in Accra on Friday, indicating that a lot of companies both locally and internationally had collapsed due to activities of hackers.

He observed that hackers do not discriminate between small and big companies and thus all every business organization was susceptible to the activities of hackers.

The forum which formed part of activities marking the 2019 National Security Cyber Month benefitted about 150 Computer Science and non-Computer Science students of the University.

Organised by the Ministry of Communications, National Cyber Security Centre, E-Crime Bureau and the Accra Technical University (ATU) it was meant to educate the students on cyber threats and the modus operandi of hackers.

The students were taken through topics such as cyber security threat, skills for identifying cyber security threat, and techniques of identifying social media scams.

Mr Quaye explained that data was very crucial in the operations of every corporate organisation and companies in the country must appreciate the “importance of data” and protect same from hackers.

He said companies must train their staff on cyber security issues to avoid acts which could expose data of their organisations to hackers.

Mr Quaye indicated that cyber crime and the nefarious activities of hackers pose a threat to the country’s economy in particular and the global economy in general.

Turning his focus on the students, the Cyber Security Analyst advised them to desist from divulging too much information about themselves on the internet and to refrain from visiting suspicious and websites to prevent them from malicious activities of hackers.

Mr Quaye urged the students to refrain from spreading fake news on their social media platforms, saying it constituted “cyber assisted crime”.

He indicated that there were websites which focus on generating fake news to destroy companies and brands and also to seek attention to make money.

Mr Quaye appealed to the students who were victims of cyber crime to report to the National Cyber Security Centre for redress and also enter the cyber security field because there were numerous career opportunities in the sector.

The Head of the Computer Science Department of the ATU, Dr Nana Yaw Asabere described the programme as a “wonderful educative forum”.

He said the world was going technological due to the advent of the internet, which has created avenues for people to communicate and interact.

Dr Asabere said increasing production of electronic devises was introducing a lot of data online and this exposes people and put them at risk of cyber fraud.

He said there was the need for constant education to educate the citizens on cyber activities and measures to protect them from hackers.