Kaspersky and Smart Africa forge strategic cyber security partnership.

In order to improve digital security on the African continent, cyber security giant Kaspersky has inked a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Smart Africa.

Smart Africa is an alliance of African countries, international organisations, and global private sector players tasked with advancing Africa’s digital transformation agenda.

The two organisations announced the partnership yesterday, saying it will boost collaborative efforts to expand cybersecurity capabilities across Africa.

The collaboration focusses on developing fundamental cybersecurity skills through training programs, including those provided by the Kaspersky Academy, an international educational enterprise founded in 2010 with the purpose of driving the best cybersecurity education to create a safer digital world.

Another major focus of the partnership will be to address gender disparities by supporting initiatives that empower girls and women in cybersecurity, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and information communication technologies (ICT), according to the cyber security firm.

It added that this is a continuation of Kaspersky's efforts to empower female professionals in IT and attract more women to the field.

In addition to human capacity development, the collaboration intends to standardise cybersecurity policies by bringing together both entities to produce harmonised regional and national frameworks.

The two organisations stated that this project will necessitate close collaboration with cybersecurity authorities, law enforcement agencies, computer emergency response teams, industry leaders, and other key stakeholders in order to develop a coordinated strategy to digital security.

Furthermore, the project aims to bolster technical defences. This includes developing vital cyber infrastructures including security operations centres and computer emergency response teams, as well as providing skilled technical consultancy to help prevent and minimise the effects of cybercrime.

Commenting on the partnership, Lacina Koné, CEO of Smart Africa, said: “This MoU marks a significant milestone in our quest to secure Africa’s digital future. By joining forces with Kaspersky, we are not only building essential cybersecurity skills and bridging the gender gap but also setting the stage for robust regional cooperation and state-of-the-art cyber infrastructure.”

“Our strategic partnership with Smart Africa is designed to help create a more secure cyberspace across the continent and beyond. We see this initiative as a commitment to empowering both individual users and organisations to ensure that everyone can navigate the digital world safely and with confidence,” added Eugene Kaspersky, founder and CEO of Kaspersky.