"Securing Africa's Cyberspace"
According to a 2020 Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) report, 38 percent of African citizens are online. As Africa has a population of 1.4 billion people, it is clear that the continent is on the verge of a digital transformation. Although digitizing Africa represents a significant opportunity, it also poses significant threats and challenges. Incentives, affordable resources, and the ability to adapt to new models still need to be improved for digital solution providers. In addition, consumers are hesitant to put their trust in digital technologies. Furthermore, limited cybersecurity capacity remains a major issue. The CyLab-Africa initiative, a collaboration between Carnegie Mellon University's (CMU) CyLab Security and Privacy Institute and CMU-Africa, is working to tackle these challenges. The initiative, involving African cybersecurity experts, aims to improve the security of digital systems in Africa and other emerging markets. CyLab-Africa and the newly announced Upanzi Network have made efforts toward improving cybersecurity in Africa in their first year, focusing on stakeholder engagement within the cybersecurity ecosystem. Stakeholder engagement is especially important in cybersecurity. The Secretary-General of the United Nations has devised a strategy in which all stakeholders play a role in advancing a safer, more equitable digital world. In this strategy, the security chief discusses how access, trust, and resilience are critical success factors for Africa's digital transformation. The continent's cybersecurity backbone must be built on effective and efficient infrastructure, technology, and deliberate workforce development initiatives, thus calling for the participation of respective ecosystem stakeholders. Many of these stakeholder discussions center on Digital Public Goods (DPGs), which are open-source software, open data, open Artificial Intelligence (AI) models, open standards, and open content adhering to privacy and other applicable laws and best practices. This article continues to discuss the collaboration aimed at improving the cybersecurity of digital systems in Africa.