TANZANIA has been ranked first in eastern, southern and central African countries in the newly released global cyber security index (GCI 2024.).

Dr Jabiri Bakari, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) director general, made this affirmation in a statement in Dar es Salaam yesterday, noting that the country has also been classified in Group A Tier 1 for role modelling on cyber security, a category shared with the United States, Britain and South Korea.

He emphasized TCRA's commitment to a secure cyber environment and its collaboration with neighboring countries and other partners as its success resulted from extensive preparations during 2023 and 2024.

As the ITU focal point for Tanzania, TCRA documented the country's cyber-security efforts and achievements, with the rankings suggesting that Tanzania achieved 100 percent compliance in the legal, organisational and cooperation measures.

It had enacted the key laws, a functional computer emergency response team (TZ-CERT) and strong local, regional and international partnerships, he said, pointing at further progress in technical measures and capacity development.

This will be achieved through enhanced cyber-security activities for various groups, including technical personnel, small and medium businesses apart from public sector institutions, he stated.

He urged cyber-security practitioners in the country to obtain cyber-security licenses to enhance visibility and collaboration in such activities, given the fact that only 46 countries worldwide, with five from Africa, achieved this Tier 1 status.

It is reserved for countries demonstrating a strong commitment across all five cyber-security pillars, on the basis of the 5th edition of the ITU Global Cyber-security Index (GCI).

It assesses national cyber-security efforts based on specified areas, after being launched by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 2015, published every four years.

The current edition evaluated 194 countries, to help member states to identify areas for improvement and encourage the development of cyber-security capabilities, the statement noted.

Doreen Bogdan-Martin, the ITU secretary general, said in remarks on the report that building trust in the digital world is a paramount concern, thus the progress seen in the GCI is positive.

“We must continue to focus efforts to ensure that everyone, everywhere can safely and securely manage cyber threats in today’s increasingly complex digital landscape.”

Cosmas Zavazava, director of the ITU telecommunication development bureau, said that the index shows significant improvements by countries that are implementing specified action areas.

He listed these as including essential legal measures, plans, capacity-building initiatives and cooperation frameworks, especially in strengthening incident response capabilities.”

TZ-CERT is responsible for coordinating national responses to cyber-security incidents and collaborating with regional and international entities.

Established under Section 124 of the Electronic and Postal Act (EPOCA) No. 3/2010 within TCRA, TZ-CERT provides security alerts, warnings and advisories.

It seeks to ensure high levels of network and information security and foster a culture of cyber-security for the benefit of the entire community, ranging from government agencies to enterprises and ordinary people.