WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Department of State and the Government of Mozambique, supported by the U.S. Department of Justice, will host a Cybersecurity and Cybercrime Workshop for Lusophone Africa in Maputo, September 22-24. U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Todd Haskell, U.S. Ambassador to Mozambique Douglas Griffiths, and U.S. Deputy Coordinator for Cyber Issues Thomas Dukes will provide remarks along with Dr. Pedro Augusto Ingles, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, and other officials from the Government of Mozambique.

As use of Internet and mobile phones expands throughout sub-Saharan Africa, nations are grappling with multiplying cyber threats. This workshop will address broad issues of cybercrime and cybersecurity while focusing on issues of specific interest to the Lusophone Africa region such as combating cybercrime; mobile phone security; Internet freedom, access, and affordability; and the development of national computer emergency readiness teams, or CERTs.

Workshop attendees will include government officials from Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Portugal, and São Tomé and Príncipe. Regional organizations, such as the African Union Commission (AUC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), have been invited to share their ideas on cybersecurity and cybercrime. Distinguished guests from the University of Florida and officials from the U.S. Departments of State, Justice, and Homeland Security will also share perspectives on cyber issues.

This workshop, the sixth in a series on this critical topic, supports the State Department’s priority of promoting cybersecurity and cybercrime capacity-building efforts across the globe.