Genie Sugene Gan, the Kaspersky Head of Government Affairs and Public Policy for Asia-Pacific, Japan, Middle East, Turkey and Africa regions(middle) announcing the opening of the centre
As a way of encouraging open transparency in cybersecurity Kaspersky has announced the opening of its first Transparency Center in the African region.
Kaspersky is a Russian multinational cybersecurity and anti-virus provider headquartered in Moscow, Russia, and operated by a holding company in the United Kingdom.
The new center, located in Cogebanque headquarters-Kigali, Rwanda, is opening as part of Kaspersky’s Global Transparency Initiative (GTI), established to highlight the reliability of the company’s solutions and advocate for greater transparency throughout the cybersecurity industry.
The center opening was revealed at the three-day Africa Cyber Defense Forum (ACDF) which officially opened in Kigali this November 15, 2023.
With the opening of the facility in the region, Kaspersky will expand its network to encompass a total of 11 Transparency Centers located across Europe, Asia-Pacific, North and Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.
The new center offers its visitors a comprehensive overview of Kaspersky’s engineering and data processing practices, and a live demonstration of the source code for its products and services.
The new Transparency Center in Kigali is available for Kaspersky’s partners, customers, and regulators responsible for cybersecurity.
It is designed to serve the “blue piste” review option, which has gained significant popularity among Transparency Centers’ visitors since the opening of the first facility in 2018.
It offers a general overview of Kaspersky’s engineering and data processing practices: throughout their visit, partners and users will be welcome to ask Kaspersky experts any questions related to the company’s data processing procedures and the functioning of its solutions.
Additionally, as part of the “blue piste,” IT experts will be able to improve or acquire skills to assess the security of ICT products that their organisations use, learning the highlights of Kaspersky’s Cyber Capacity Building Program for government organisations, academia and companies.
Genie Sugene Gan, the Kaspersky Head of Government Affairs and Public Policy for Asia-Pacific, Japan, Middle East, Turkey and Africa regions said growing emphasis on cybersecurity within the pan-regional African agenda is piquing the interest of national authorities, however, there remains a significant gap in cyber-capacity building.
“By opening the Transparency Center, Kaspersky aims to address the local market needs, offering education in such critical areas as evaluating product security and establishing secure development processes,” Sugene Gan said.
The African Union Mechanism for Police Cooperation (AFRIPOL) officials underscored the strong nexus between transparency and the fight against cybercrime, and Kaspersky’s commitment to both causes.
AFRIPOL’s Acting Executive Director, Ambassador Jalel Chelba said that Kaspersky has a proven track record of (over 26 years) collaborating with local, regional and international law enforcement agencies to combat cybercrime, sharing its technical expertise, in the spirit of transparency.
The African region is currently undergoing rapid digital transformation, with Internet penetration continually growing year on year.
Internet penetration in the African region has been steadily increasing over the years: according to the World Bank broadband Internet access in Africa grew from 26% in 2019 to 36% in 2022.
To counter potential security risks stemming from the use of technology, it is imperative to understand what forms an effective framework to mitigate risks.
