Nick Benson, CEO, CREST.

CREST, an international non-profit organisation that promotes standards and best practices in cyber security, yesterday, announced its support for the Accra Call for Cyber Resilient Development.

CREST is participating in the first Global Conference on Cyber Capacity Building (GC3B), which is taking place this week in Accra, Ghana.

The conference brings together leaders, decision-makers, and experts focused on international cooperation for cyber resilient development in a ‘sustainable and inclusive’ way.

The Accra Call for Cyber Resilient Development was launched yesterday at GC3B, by Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Ghana’s Minister of Communications and Digitalisation.

The ‘call’ is an attempt to spur global action towards enhanced cyber resilience and capacity building, as well as raining standards and professionalism. It includes a series of non-binding, voluntary, directions to drive sustainable capacity building, foster stronger partnerships, better coordination, and facilitate the release of funding resources and implementation strategies.

“As a signatory to the Accra Call, we are delighted to pledge our support for this excellent initiative, which builds on our work in lower income countries, underlining the need for global cooperation in the fight against cyber crime and the need to create stronger cyber resilience," says Nick Benson, CEO, CREST.

Benson says the Accra Call will help address the cyber skills gap, and CREST’s endorsement of it will be shown in a commitment to making its services ‘affordable and accessible in developing nations’.

To support the Accra Call's affordability goal, CREST is offering a 50% membership discount to enterprises in low-income nations.

The Accra Call's progress will be assessed every two years at future rounds of the GC3B. Between conferences, the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise will establish a multi-stakeholder ‘Accra Call community’, bringing together all parties that endorse the initiative, to share experiences and draw lessons to inform collective follow-up on the Accra Call.