1. MalWaria outbreak in Africa - the
fierce urgency of now
by Aireni Omerri CISA CISSP MSc
Founder, ISfA
infosecafrica@gmail.com
ISSA-UK Security Day, 8 July 2010

2. Career to date
• Royal Holloway 2001-2002, CISSP
2002
• ISSA-UK member since March 2003
• Worked on 3 continents; Africa,
America and Europe
ISSA-UK Security Day, 8 July 2010

3. Agenda
• Context
• UNDHR
• Team Cymru
• ISfA
ISSA-UK Security Day, 8 July 2010

4. The fierce urgency of now
ISSA-UK Security Day, 8 July 2010

5. Article 31
Internet access is a
fundamental human right
Agree
Disagree
Don’t be ridiculous
ISSA-UK Security Day, 8 July 2010

6. Africa
•
ISSA-UK Security Day, 8 July 2010

7. Digital scramble
•
ISSA-UK Security Day, 8 July 2010

8. Team Cymru
• dedicated to making the Internet more
secure
• research the ‘who’ and ‘why’ of malicious
activity
• advise governments and law enforcement
agencies around the world
• www.team-cymru.org
• contact outreach@cymru.com
ISSA-UK Security Day, 8 July 2010

9. African bot distribution
•
ISSA-UK Security Day, 8 July 2010

10. Bot distribution contd
•
•
ISSA-UK Security Day, 8 July 2010

11. Statistical breakdown
• November 2009 - countries with the
highest number of infected computers;
Egypt - 42,000, Algeria - 20,000, Nigeria -
11,000, Morocco - 8,000
• Apart from SA (4,000), the rest of the
continent has virtually no infected
machines
• February 2010 - Egypt’s number of infected
computers had increased by 20%
• whitepaper - www.team-cymru.org
ISSA-UK Security Day, 8 July 2010

12. It’s all about change
"Change will not come if WE wait for
some other person or some other time.
WE are the ones we've been waiting for.
WE are the change that WE seek"
Senator Barack Obama, 5 Feb 2008
ISSA-UK Security Day, 8 July 2010

13. ISfA
• Obama was the inspiration, OWASP the
aspiration
• dedicated to the advancement and
development of information security on the
African continent
• closed LinkedIn group - 105 members, 35 in
Africa
• management team made up of 4 ISG RHUL
alumni; 2 in Nigeria, 2 in the UK
ISSA-UK Security Day, 8 July 2010

14. Logo
•
ISSA-UK Security Day, 8 July 2010

15. ISfA roadmap
• register as a not-for-profit
• website (currently in beta)
• initiatives such as infosec awareness for
the continent’s 11-18 year olds
• establish partnerships with like minded
individuals/organisations
• become the knowledge resource for
infosec best practice
ISSA-UK Security Day, 8 July 2010

16. Lastly
The best time to plant a tree is twenty years
ago.
The second best time is now.
African proverb
ISSA-UK Security Day, 8 July 2010

17. Background reading
•
ISSA-UK Security Day, 8 July 2010