User:Infosecafrica

'''

Background
''' Africa, the second largest continent by area, with a population of just over 1 billion is made up of 53 countries. Sudan is the largest country, while Nigeria is the most populous - 1 in 6 Africans is Nigerian.

With the advent of broadband across the African continent in the past year, the phrase, “Africa is open for business” has never rang truer. While the increased internet bandwidth capacity has been a boon to those involved in the still fledgeling e-economy, it has also meant the threat to the continent from cybercrime has increased exponentially. Only five African countries; Egypt, Mauritius, Morocco, Tunisia and South Africa have adopted the Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime and passed legislation covering the following:
 * computer misuse
 * data breach notification
 * data protection/privacy
 * e-commerce
 * intellectual property/copyright

There is therefore an urgent requirement for Africa to secure her cyberspace in order to realise the enormous potential for economic growth, as what are predominantly agrarian economies are transformed to knowledge-based ones.

Broadband penetration
'''
 * Fig 1 details the submarine cables that have been laid and the cables that are to be laid around the African continent.
 * The ACE /Uhurunet submarine cable that is scheduled to go live in 2012 supports the latest 40 Gbps DWDM technology and will have 5.12 Tbps of bandwidth capacity, capable of supporting ultra-broadband networks

Fig 1 courtesy of Africa Undersea Cables

Aims and objectives
'''
 * To promote global information security best practices on the continent through knowledge sharing and information exchange.
 * To become the knowledge resource of information security on the African continent through the creation of a brains trust that harnesses the experience and expertise of information security practitioners from around the globe with an interest in helping to secure Africa’s cyberspace.
 * To make information security best practice resources freely available, in English and French, using OWASP as a benchmark.
 * To have ISfA representation in each of the 53 African countries.

Initiatives
'''
 * To create an information security profile for each African country.
 * To raise information security awareness amongst the continent’s youth.
 * To establish a scholarship, to be awarded annually, for suitably qualified females from the continent, to undertake postgraduate studies in information security at renowned universities.
 * To hold quarterly ISfA seminars and geographically rotate the location around the continent.
 * To hold an Information Security for Africa summit annually.
 * To participate in research projects that serve to enhance information security on the continent
 * To produce an annual Information Security for Africa survey, highlighting trends and developments in information security on the continent.

Membership
''' ISfA’s most important assets are the knowledge, experience, expertise and skills of its members. The aim is to have four categories of membership; academic, corporate, government and individual with annual membership fees scaled accordingly

ISfA exists as an eponymous closed group in LinkedIn and the number of members currently stands at 141 from 38 countries. The continental breakdown is as follows:

Just under 15% of the members are female and 18 African countries are represented.

Organisational structure
 Board of Trustees (BoT)'''

In order to satisfy the UK Charities Commission’s requirements for a not-for-profit organisation, ISfA will have a board made up of nine Trustees, whose terms will range from one to three years. The criteria for Trustee selection is defined in ISfA’s Memorandum of Articles and Association.

Council of Elders (CoE)

Comprises nine Elders; one chair, four Elders from Africa (north, south, east and west) and four from the rest of the world. Each Elder is an acknowledged global luminary and their role is as follows:


 * to be ISfA ambassadors and raise the profile of the organisation
 * to advise and support ISfA initiatives
 * to assess scholarship applicants and select scholarship recipients
 * to review ISfA drafted material for intellectual rigour.

Revenue streams
'''
 * Consultancy referrals.
 * Funding from partners.
 * Fundraising events.
 * Membership subscriptions.
 * Research participation and publication of articles.
 * Sale of branded merchandising.
 * Speaking engagements.
 * Sponsorship from individuals and organisations who support ISfA’s aims and objectives.