In a captivating encounter at the 2023 edition of the National Cyber Security Challenge held in Accra, OLA Girls Senior High School in Ho emerged victorious with 45 points. This achievement was announced during the concluding event of the two-day Global Conference on Cyber Capacity Building (GC3B).
Fifty (50) Senior High Schools across the sixteen (16) regions of Ghana were selected to participate in the competition, which had been launched earlier in Accra on April 26, 2023, by the Cyber Security Authority (CSA). The participating schools were categorized into zones, which were the Northern, Middle, Eastern, and Southern zones.
Preparations for the competition, which kicked off in June, involved educating participants on diverse subjects such as the Child Online Protection (COP) provisions within the Cybersecurity Act (Act 1038) of 2020, digital footprint management, social engineering, open-source intelligence, and more.
The winners of each zone therefore qualified for the climax of the competition, which took place in the Cedi Conference Center of the University of Ghana, after which the award presentation ceremony of the challenge took place at the Kempiski Hotel in Accra as part of the closing ceremony of the two-day GC3B.
As a reward for their hard work, OLA Girls SHS took home a whopping GH₵7,000 as a cash prize, a trophy, and a certificate of participation. Prempeh College and Wesley Girls’ Senior High School jointly secured the second position with 38 points, earning GH₵2000 each along with certificates. Navrongo Senior High School, which clinched the third spot with 34 points, also received GH₵1000 and certificates of participation.
Other awards presented at the conference included the Outstanding Female Student award won by Angela Boating from Ola SHS and the Best Social Media Video award won by NAVASCO.
At the tail end of the conference, Minister of Communications and Digitalization, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, remarked that the initiatives within the framework were designed to advance cyber capacity building, align with broader development objectives, and effectively address the specific needs of developing countries.
“The government is not relenting in its efforts to fight cybercrime to ensure a secure and resilient digital ecosystem by effectively regulating cybersecurity and promoting its development in the country,” she said.
Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful stressed the journey towards a more secure cyberspace, underscoring the importance of cybersecurity as a major societal concern.
“As we further digest the conference’s main themes, we must keep in mind that cybersecurity is both a technical and societal concern.”
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Story by: Nsoh Ezekiel | univers.ug.edu.gh
