Cybercrime inflicted a $6 trillion cost on the world in 2021, and it is projected to surpass $10 trillion in annual damages by 2025, as reported by the World Economic Forum.

A lecturer at the Department of Management Sciences and School of Business at the University of Education, Winneba, Dr. Vera Akafo Ayitey, shared these insights during the Chartered Compliance and Cyber Analyst (CCCA) Institute's graduation ceremony at the University of Ghana Business School Graduate Campus in Legon.

Speaking on "Organisational Culture and Fraud Prevention," Dr. Ayitey emphasized the increasing frequency of cyberattacks, underscoring the critical need for attention to curb this trend.

She highlighted the significance of fostering a cyber-secure culture within organizations at both the management and employee levels.

“In Ghana we can talk about data breaches at ECG and the University of Ghana where peoples’ scholastic financial results were all over the place online. So the question is what happened? Was it systemic failure or human error? she queried.

“There are things that we do privately or things that are confidential which should not come out but through cybercrime, sometimes we hear of such confidential issues. Someone somewhere may be keeping tabs on what we are doing. So issues of confidentiality can be breached,” she said.

Addressing specific instances in Ghana, such as data breaches at ECG and the University of Ghana, where confidential information was exposed online, Dr. Ayitey raised questions about systemic failures or human errors leading to such incidents.

She stressed the leadership role in ensuring organizational resilience to cyberattacks by adhering to cybersecurity protocols and implementing strategies to promote a cybersecurity culture.

Financial losses, damage to reputation, and operational disruptions were cited as consequences of cybercrime, underscoring the need for organizations to prioritize cybersecurity.

Dr. Ayitey also mentioned the broader impact on stakeholders and regulatory scrutiny following cyberattacks.

She emphasized that the fight against cybercrime extends beyond the IT department to include people, processes, and culture, urging collaboration with the IT department to build resilient organizational cultures.

At the graduation ceremony, certificates were awarded to four students who successfully completed the 14 requisite papers.

The awardees included Lance Corporal Apoore Jude Azur of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Mark Gyan of the Bank of Ghana, Sydney Kwakye also of the Bank of Ghana, and Oppong Daniel, formerly of Legacy Capital.

Dr. Theophilus Kwadjo Odjer-Bio, Director at the CCCA Institute, chaired the event and conferred the awards on the graduands.