MBA thesis study

1. An Assessment of the Awareness of Cyber security challenges
of Small and Medium Enterprises in Arusha
A Case study of Habari Node Ltd
This research paper is submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements of the Award of a Masters of Business
Administration in Information Technology.
Supervised by
Mr. John Pima
September, 2011
In Collaboration with the Institute of
Accountancy Arusha

2. Abstract
This study was prompted by the recent connectivity of Arusha town to the fibre cable
in Dar-es-salaam namely the Seacom and Essay fibre cable in May, 2010. This
enhanced connectivity significantly improved the downloads and uploads speed of
traffic to and from Arusha consequently greatly improving the users experience of
Internet related services now traveling at lightening speeds. This opened up the
possibility of effectively using internet related business services like online tax
processing, banking and educational services that were previously to slow too run on
satellite (VSAT) or dial-up links and triggered a need or awareness for businesses in
Arusha to start using as well incorporating more Internet related business services in
their daily operations to effectively compete.
Unfortunately with this improved connectivity and subsequent increase in business
opportunities could also have generated additional interest in the region by Cyber
(Internet related) crime perpetuators as well as amplified exposure to Cyber threats
as connecting to machines in Arusha from anywhere in the world had become faster
and easier. The consequences of these threats/attacks are well-known: violation of
privacy, theft of information, the potential for a devastating large scale network
failure, service interruption, or the total unavailability of service. This change
therefore passes a question to small and medium enterprises/businesses (SME‘s) in
Arusha; as to whether they are adequately prepared to meet this new challenge and
if not what could these SME’s do about it?
This research therefore set out to assess the efforts of SME‘s in Arusha in the realm
of cyber security. Attention was directed to SME‘s because SMEs the engine of the
national economy and account for over 95% of organizations and 60-70% of
employment (OECD, 1997). When approaching this problem, the researcher noted
that though in the past; traditional definitions of cyber security have been to design
strong cryptography into information security systems. Only protecting confidential
information as a motivation for cyber security may not be entirely appropriate for
SME‘s.
More so there had been increasing interest in other sectors of security, namely geo-
political, economic and human previously considered by many as non-traditional
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3. security issues. Implying the location of such businesses, cost of preventive
measures, security policies, appropriateness of the available tools, as well as the
recovery or fail-over options in place could also serve as a strong motivator; for
many SME‘s possess neither full-bodied critical infrastructures that utilize digital
control systems nor specifically staff information security specialists. Indicating that
thinking about cyber security issues strictly in relation to these systems and staff
would not be complete. The research then sought to determine how to best
investigate and implement cyber security in SME‘s, if it is not an issue solely
associated with protection of confidential data. As a result this research was then
carried out using a collection of methodologies requiring both the secondary and the
primary data to be used for this purpose.
The study conducted shows that there was a relationship between the accessibility
of internet, incidences of cyber-attacks, awareness of cyber threats and the
organization size. So although the online survey revealed that while most Arusha
SME‘s do access the internet and rely heavily on the Internet many lack the internal
resources, formal policies, employee training, and technologies they need to protect
this critical information. To further compound matters most own websites that they
use to attract customers to their business as well as routinely handle confidential and
proprietary data. However the vulnerability scans showed some level of protection;
the results from recorded intrusion attempts highlighted an almost aggressive assault
on any device reachable via the Internet.
Implying it was quite possible that a substantial number of accessible online systems
may have already been compromised. The major difficulty in affirming this was due
to the absence of records illustrating these breaches as little effort was being made
to record these incidences due to the ensuing panic/crisis after a cyber-
attack/breach.
Keywords
Awareness, Challenges, Cyber security, Information Security, Internet, SME‘s.
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4. Acknowledgement
The successful completion of any trying and extensive task would be incomplete
without mentioning the names of persons who helped to make it possible. I would
like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude in few words and respect to all
those who helped me in the completion of this dissertation.
To begin with, I am extremely grateful to Allah for his generous blessing and
abundant mercy for the opportunity to do this course and at all the stages therein
culminating in the completion of this dissertation.
I convey my heartiest thanks to Mr Erik Rowberg, the managing director of Habari
Node Limited, who generously supported and granted me the opportunity to do this
study in the most established, respected and highly regarded ICT Company in
Arusha.
I would also like to express my deep sense of gratitude to my supervisor Mr John
Pima, for his support during this research study and guidance to enable me
successfully complete this dissertation.
Not forgetting my sincere thanks and heartfelt gratitude to my friends, colleagues,
fellow students and comrades for giving me timely advice in all the ways and in all
aspects that have enabled me to reach this far and for the success of this
dissertation.
Finally to my family who have may have felt my absence; it is my sincere prayer that
this struggle was worth the time away from you.
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5. Declaration
I declare that this dissertation was composed by myself and that the work contained
therein is my own except where explicitly stated otherwise in the text, and that this
work has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification
except as specified.
Date: September 2011 ………………………………
Ismail M. Settenda
MBA-IT 0027/T.2010
Copyright Acknowledgement
I acknowledge that the copyright of this dissertation belongs to Coventry University.
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6. Glossary of Terms
This part of the document is to provide acronyms and definitions of some of the key
words used in this dissertation.
Application - Software whose primary purpose is to perform a specific function for
an end-user, such as Microsoft Word.
AICC – Arusha International Conference Centre
ALMC - Arusha Lutheran Medical Centre
AIXP - Arusha Internet Exchange Point
ATM - Automated Teller Machine
CEO - Chief Executive Officer
Cracker (a.k.a hacker) - The correct name for an individual who hacks into a
networked computer system with malicious intentions. The term hacker is used
interchangeably (although incorrectly) because of media hype of the word hacker. A
cracker explores and detects weak points in the security of a computer networked
system and then exploits these weaknesses using specialized tools and techniques.
CRDB - Centenary Rural Development Bank
Cyber - Prefix commonly used to indicate some association with the internet.
Cybercrime - A criminal offense that involves the use of a computer network.
Cyberspace - Refers to the connections and locations (even virtual) created using
computer networks. The term ―Internet‖ has become synonymous with this word.
EISAM - Enterprise Information Security Assessment Method
Gateway (Router) - A network node connected to two or more networks. It is used
to send data from one network (such as 137.13.45.0) to a second network (such as
43.24.56.0). The networks could both use Ethernet, or one could be Ethernet and the
other could be ATM (or some other networking technology). As long as both speak
common protocols (such as the TCP/IP protocol suite), they can communicate.
GDP - Gross Domestic Product
HMS – Hospital Management System
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7. HNL - Habari Node Ltd
Host: Same as a node. This is a computer (or another type of network device)
connected to a network.
IAA - Institute of Accountancy Arusha
ICT - Information and Communications Technology
IFMS - Integrated Financial Management System
Internet: A global computer network that links minor computer networks, allowing
them to share information via standardized communication protocols.
Internet Service Provider or ISP: An organization that provides end-users with
access to the Internet. Note: It is not necessary to go through an ISP to access the
Internet, although this is the common way used by most people.
IP - Internet Protocol
IS - Information Systems
ISP - Internet Service Provider
IT - Information Technology
IXP - Internet Exchange Point
LAN - Local Area Network
MCT - Ministry of Communications and Transport
MD – Managing Director
NICTBB - National Information Communication and Technology Broadband
Backbone
NECTA – National Examinations Council of Tanzania
NGO - Non-Governmental Organisation
NTP - National Telecommunications Policy
PCIS - Personnel Controls Information System
PoP - Points of Presence
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8. PRSP - Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper
PSTN - Public Switched Telephone Network
R&D - Research and Development
Search Engine - An Internet resource that locates data based on keywords or
phrases that the user provides. This is currently the main method used on the
Internet to find information. Current search engines are Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask,
AOL search, etc.
SEDA - Small Enterprise Development Agency
SIDA - Swedish International Development Agency
SME - Small and Medium Enterprises
SWOT - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
TRA - Tanzania Revenue Authority
TCC - Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority
TIC - Tanzania Investment Centre
TTCL - Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited
VoIP - Voice over Internet Protocol
VPN - Virtual private network
VSAT - Very Small Aperture Terminal
WWW - World Wide Web; also shortened to Web. Although WWW is used by many
as being synonymous to the Internet, the WWW is actually one of numerous services
on the Internet. This service allows e-mail, images, sound, and newsgroups.
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9. TOC
Abstract................................................................................................................................. 1
Acknowledgement ................................................................................................................. 4
Declaration............................................................................................................................ 5
Glossary of Terms................................................................................................................. 6
TOC ...................................................................................................................................... 9
List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... 11
List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... 11
List of Appendixes ............................................................................................................... 12
Chapter One; Introduction ................................................................................................... 13
1.1. Background........................................................................................................... 13
1.1.1. Background to the problem ............................................................................ 13
1.1.2. Background on Habari Node Limited ............................................................. 18
1.2. Purpose of the study ............................................................................................. 20
Statement of the problem ............................................................................................. 21
Research Objective ...................................................................................................... 22
1.3. Significance of the Research ................................................................................ 24
1.4. Limitations and De-limitations of the Research ..................................................... 25
1.5. Chapter Summary ................................................................................................. 25
Chapter Two: Literature Review .......................................................................................... 26
2.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................... 26
Defining Accessible Information Systems and Cyber security ...................................... 30
2.2. Relevance of Theories and Principles of the Study ............................................... 33
2.3. Empirical Review .................................................................................................. 37
2.4. Chapter Summary ................................................................................................. 42
Chapter three: Research Design and Methodology ............................................................. 44
3.1. Research Design .................................................................................................. 44
3.2. Methodology ......................................................................................................... 51
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10. 3.3. Chapter Summary ................................................................................................. 55
4.0 Chapter Four: Data Analysis and Discussion ............................................................ 56
4.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................... 56
4.2. Findings, Analysis and Discussion ........................................................................ 56
Findings ....................................................................................................................... 56
Analysis of Findings ..................................................................................................... 65
Discussion ................................................................................................................... 71
4.3. Chapter summary ................................................................................................. 74
5.0 Chapter Five: Conclusion, Recommendations and Further Research ....................... 75
5.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................... 75
5.2. Recommendations ................................................................................................ 76
5.3. Critical review ....................................................................................................... 78
Concluding remarks ............................................................................................................ 79
References ......................................................................................................................... 80
Appendix ............................................................................................................................. 84
Glossary .......................................................................................................................... 84
Questionnaire .................................................................................................................. 86
Research Schedule ......................................................................................................... 94
Research Budget ............................................................................................................. 95
Respondents Comments A – Recent Attacks/Threat ....................................................... 96
Respondents Comments B- Improvements ..................................................................... 97
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11. List of Tables
Table 1: Tanzania Internet Usage and Population Growth .................................................. 13
Table 2: Categories of SMEs in Tanzania ........................................................................... 27
Table 3: Sample List of SME‘s in Arusha ............................................................................ 28
Table 4: Vulnerabilities, Threats, and Attacks Categories Summary ................................... 32
Table 5: Perceived Trend of Cyber Attacks/Threats ............................................................ 61
Table 6: Top 15 Noted Cyber Attacks ................................................................................. 62
Table 7: Random Vulnerability Scan Results ...................................................................... 63
List of Figures
Figure 1: Tanzania Fibre and Microwave Network Coverage:2005 ..................................... 14
Figure 2: The Cyber Attack Process.................................................................................... 17
Figure 3: An Example of EIS score from assessment of two companies ............................. 35
Figure 4: Vulnerability Possibilities ...................................................................................... 41
Figure 5: Model of Security Relationships ........................................................................... 42
Figure 6: Outline of the Case Study .................................................................................... 44
Figure 7: Companies Employee Count ................................................................................ 66
Figure 8: Internet Dependency of SME's ............................................................................. 66
Figure 9: Percentage Use on Internet by Employees .......................................................... 67
Figure 10: Internal Internet Use........................................................................................... 67
Figure 11: Percentage Satisfaction of SME's on Current Measures in place ....................... 68
Figure 12: Frequency of I.T Checks .................................................................................... 69
Figure 13: Current Protection Measures.............................................................................. 69
Figure 14: Sources of I.T Security information .................................................................... 70
Figure 15: Trend of Intrusion Attempts ................................................................................ 71
Figure 16: Compromised networks...................................................................................... 72
Figure 17: Use an Internet Policy ........................................................................................ 72
Figure 18: I.T Check-ups..................................................................................................... 73
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12. Figure 19: Ease of Access to information ............................................................................ 74
List of Appendixes
i. Glossary
ii. Questionnaire
iii. Research Schedule
iv. Research Budget
v. Respondents Comments A – Recent Attacks/Threat
vi. Respondents Comments B- Improvements
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13. Chapter One; Introduction
1.1. Background
1.1.1. Background to the problem
We now live in an era known as the Information Society or Information Age as for almost half a
century the importance of computers for citizens, organisations, governments and society as a
whole has been growing. At the same time, the importance of intellectual asset flows, such as
information and knowledge, has also been growing at the expense of material asset flows
(Sveiby, 1997), thus the frequently used term these days ―information is power‖ (Rogers,
2010).
Consequently in the drive to remain competitive; information systems have to a large extent
become integrated in industry operations and business systems fostering the growth of
networking technologies that offer tools for making communication and sharing of information
more efficient and faster than before i.e. emails, chat, and VoIP etc. This has culminated in the
incorporation of the Internet into business operations as the Internet is quickly becoming the
major infrastructure for information in almost every level and arena in society, e.g. electronic
business and electronic government.
Table 1: Tanzania Internet Usage and Population Growth
Year Users Population % Penetration
2000 50,000 14,712,000 0.3 %
2002 500,000 13,874,610 3.6 %
2005 820,000 12,247,589 6.7 %
2009 520,000 41,048,532 1.3 %
Source: (ITU, (2010))
From the table above Internet usage statistics show 520,000 Internet users as of June, 2009,
1.3% of the population (ITU, (2010)) more recently TCRA reported that as of June 2010 they
were 4.8 million Internet users in Tanzania (T.C.R.A, 2010). This huge jump in Internet usage
was the main drive for improved connectivity leading to the milestone landing of the submarine
cables namely Seacom (Seacom, (2009)) and thereafter Essay fibre cable in Dar-e-salaam in
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14. April, 2010,(WIOCC, 2010). Arusha soon followed in May, 2010 as NICTBB completed its first
phase (Security, 2010, Mutarubukwa, 2010).
Figure 1: Tanzania Fibre and Microwave Network Coverage:2005
Source: (ITU, (2010))
Consequently today in Tanzania many industrial sectors or functions of society namely; the
taxation authorities i.e. TRA (Mbonea, (2010)), the banking sectors has banks like CRDB,
NBC, healthcare institutions like ALMC uses an HMS called Care2X, educational institutions
like NECTA, NGO‘s like SEDA and SIDA, Tour companies/operators as well as many other
national associations are now using or are planning to use the Internet as its major
communication infrastructure.
However, the networking and interconnection of systems can significantly increase an
organisation‘s or an enterprise‘s exposure to information security risks (Weiss 2001) and can
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15. result in an Internet leak; which occurs when a party's confidential information is released to
the public on the Internet. To best illustrate this ―In April 2010, WikiLeaks; a non-profit media
organization dedicated to bringing important news and information to the public
(http://wikileaks.org/) caused an international uproar when they published gunsight footage
from the 12 July 2007 Baghdad airstrike in which Iraqi journalists were among those killed by
an Apache helicopter, as the Collateral Murder video in addition to other publications like the
Afghan War Diary, (a compilation of more than 76,900 documents about the War in
Afghanistan), Iraq War Logs, U.S. State department diplomatic cables that were previously not
available to the public” leading to worldwide criticism and claims by several U.S. government
officials that WikiLeaks exposed classified information that harmed national security as well as
compromised international diplomacy.
So it holds true for Arusha as well that in almost every level and arena in society, information
security is becoming an important and crucial issue. It should be noted that in Arusha like the
rest of Africa, the Internet penetration is far behind that of the rest of the world. The
penetration rates vary across the continent with northern Africa, South Africa and several
Islands being at the top, with a maximum penetration of just under 36%. (Kristina Cole et al.,
2008). Another report by Internet World Statistic gave even lower figures as seen below:
Source: (Internet-World-Statistics, (2011))
Nevertheless many SMEs in Arusha also gain a competitive edge by using the Internet to do
market research, find information on competitors and track down leads for new customers, or
provide better customer support so they are likely the dominant force behind the Internet
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16. usage in Arusha. If Tanzania had 676,000 Internet users as of Jun/10, 1.6% of the
population, of which 319,440 Facebook users on June 30/11, 0.7% penetration rate as per
ITU. Then SME‘s are likely the major users/drivers of this internet usage.
In addition Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are the engine of the national economy
and represent over half of all employees in the private sector So it should be noted that
SME‘s as significantly contribute to the economy and comprise the majority of the businesses
and internet users in the country. (OECD, 1997). Then their importance to the development of
this nation cannot be understated or ignored nor discussed without consideration of the
information systems and measures that are in place to protect these systems.
The Cyber Security Challenge
Therefore potential network vulnerabilities, threats, and attacks in SME’s must be identified to
minimize security concerns. In this study Cyber is most times limited to Internet related
technology its broadest meaning includes both aspects of information and telecommunications
technology. System vulnerabilities refer to weaknesses in the system that can be attacked,
while threats are the potential to cause damage to online networked resources. Attacks are
the actual use of system vulnerability to put threats into action. Cyber security broadly refers to
the protection measures put in place to prevent system hacking. System hacking is a
continuous process where hackers continue to discover system vulnerabilities to develop
attacks as depicted in the figure below;
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17. Figure 2: The Cyber Attack Process
Source: (Promisec, 2010, Colonel Louis H. Jordan and Saadawi", 2011)
As the Arusha SME‘s do have such systems it therefore is still vital that accessible information
systems in Arusha are adequately protected from unauthorised access to information or
Cybercrime perpetuators. As the latest global threat statistics indicate that:
 Approximately 6,000 new computer viruses are released every month.
 Hackers create 50,000 new websites each week exploiting approximately 375 high-
profile brand names worldwide at any time.
 More than 140,000 new zombie computers are created per day and used as botnets for
sending spam, etc.
 Today about 25% of malware is designed to be spread via USB storage devices that
connect directly to PCs.
 More than 75% of new malware is designed to infect users through the web
Source:(Tabadatze, 2011)
To be able to keep up with the above threats will a two pronged approach that on one scale
will require coordination and vigilant continuous monitoring of ICT trends and developments by
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18. policy makers, ICT service providers, market analysts, SME‘s management and other
stakeholders; given the potential impact of ICT use on social and economic development it is
crucial for SME‘s and the country at large to strive towards making the benefits (and not the
hazards) of ICTs available to all people. One the other scale for I.T mangers and I.T support
staff to have an accurate awareness of what is happening on a network is critical to the
success of an information security program as the enemy is not sleeping. For SME‘s to be
able to collect all this timely information it is then important to do this with automation to allow
businesses to return their attention to the core operations of their businesses. Let me end here
with a quote ―We need timely, targeted, and prioritized information to drive security. Without it
is to compare to us driving and using the rear-view mirror to guide us‖ (U.S. Department of
State, 2011). So we should not be intimidated into not driving at all but should strive to drive
correctly.
1.1.2. Background on Habari Node Limited
Habari Node Limited (HNL) is a dynamic Tanzanian company based in Arusha providing a
range of ICT based business solutions to the Tanzanian market. HNL was formed by AFAM
Limited together with Arusha Node Marie in 2010 to take over the Internet Services activities
of Arusha Node Marie, a society that has been operational since 1994. Habari Node is now
incorporated under the Tanzania‘s company act 2002 with Certificate of Incorporation number
75466.
HNL is a licensed data operator with National Application Services License providing high
speed data and internet connectivity with 99.5% service uptime. Last mile connectivity is
through DSL and direct fibre connectivity in the Arusha CDB and Broadband Wireless in the
surrounding areas. In remote sites and offer backup facilities through iDirect VSAT platform.
Their scope of services at HNL include standard ISP services including bandwidth, DNS,
domain registration, domain, web, and email hosting services, as well International Voice
over IP calling service.
Habari Node has a board of directors which oversees the operations of the company. The
day to day activities are managed by a team of functional managers supervised by the
Managing Director. Currently HNL employs over 50 staff who manage daily technical,
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19. business and administrative operations of the ISP. At least half of the employees are
technical staff in different areas of IT with over 6 years work experience (Habari, (2011)).
As they are expanding (ArushaTimes, 2011) it appears that the application of ICT services is
at the threshold of a new era due to the international fibre cable reaching Arusha, and
consequently opening up new opportunities. They serve home users, government institutions,
businesses, agencies, NGO‘s and other ISP‘s in Arusha and their coverage extends all over
Tanzania and they have the widest reach in Arusha as well as leading market share of the
Internet users in Arusha and are therefore a suitable company to channel our cyber security
initiatives.
SWOT Analysis of Habari Node Ltd.
Strengths;
 Known presence in Arusha
 Broad subscriber ship and large Arusha user base.
 Renowned for good technical support and service.
 Have necessary equipment and infrastructure in place
 Centrally located in the city
 Host AIXP and encourage inter-cooperation between local ISP's
 Management advocates for diligence and encourages innovative ideas
Weakness
 Too focused on only Internet provision.
 No cash for expansions and equipment purchases
 Poor or no marketing strategy
 Questionable technical competence of staff
 Only based in one location - Arusha
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20. Opportunities
 Expansion to other areas as the Companies reputation is marketable.
 Large and under-utilised ICT market in Tanzania.
 Provision of alternative ICT services namely;
 Web design and Content Management Services
 Co-locating servers‘ services
 Data entry and Call Centre services
 Underground cabling services.
 Expansions into areas not necessarily in ICT but complement ICT. i.e.
teaching
Threats
 Competition from other similar service providers in the region.
 Complacency or the feeling that we good enough.
 Damage to equipment by electrical surges, theft etc.
 Political influence-peddling, interference or sabotage
1.2. Purpose of the study
The main purpose of this project is to explore how the Small and Medium Enterprise‘s (SME)
in Arusha in light of the recent fibre connectivity were challenged by the new business
opportunities via the Internet. As well as if there was indeed a relationship between the
accessibility of internet, an increase in the incidences of cyber-attacks, a general awareness
of cyber threats and the organization size. This is in appreciation of the theory that as the
Internet becomes the major information infrastructure in most sectors; the importance of
Information Systems (IS) security steadily increases. As such reaching a certain level of
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21. actual IS security is vital for most businesses as businesses have to maintain a certain level
of security and be able to assess the level of other actors‘ security. However IS security is
abstract and complex and difficult to estimate and measure.(Oscarson, 2007)
I therefore then set out to assess the efforts of Habari Node Ltd and their clients in and
around Arusha in the realm of cyber security. When approaching this problem, it is also my
belief that national security as a motivation for cyber security may not be entirely appropriate
for developing nations. As many developing nations possess neither robust critical
infrastructures that utilize digital control systems nor highly digitized militaries, and thinking
about cyber security issues in relation to these systems therefore may not make sense. I
therefore sought like my predecessors to determine how to implement cyber security in
Arusha, Tanzania not as an issue solely associated with national security. (Kristina Cole et
al., 2008).
Statement of the problem
Arusha was recently connected to the worldwide fibre network via the fibre cable in Dar-es-
salaam namely the Seacom and Essay fibre cable in May, 2010. This enhanced connectivity
significantly improved the downloads and uploads speed of traffic to and from Arusha
consequently greatly improving the users experience of Internet related services now
traveling at lightening speeds. This opened up the possibility of effectively using internet
related business services like online tax, bank and educational services that were previously
to slow to run on satellite (VSAT) or dial-up links and triggered a need or awareness for
businesses in Arusha to start using as well incorporating more Internet related business
services in their daily operations to effectively compete.
Unfortunately with this improved connectivity could also have increased interest in the region
and exposure to Cyber threats as now connecting to machines in Arusha from anywhere in
the world become faster and easier for Cybercrime perpetuators. This change therefore
begged the question; where businesses in Arusha adequately prepared to meet this new
challenge and if not what could these SME‘s do about it?
Worldwide in just a few decades, the use of IT has formalized information management and
streamlined the administration of organizations. On the other hand, this development has
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22. entailed a substantial dependence on IT services where few business processes can be
handled manually when IT services are out of order. Deficiencies in IS security can cause
direct negative consequences for business processes; production, sales, business
administration, etc. due to incorrectness, delays and information leakage and in the end, can
affect the business as a whole.
Frequently nowadays we hear the term ―Global Village‖ which seems to infer the world is a
much smaller place nowadays and what happen in one corner of the globe is known in a
matter of seconds at the other end of the globe. So true does this hold for the impact of say;
actions that happen in one corner and have far-reaching reactions in other parts of the world.
It would then be prudent to say that these days nothing is too small to ignore or too remote to
not be considered a significant threat or risk these days.
Thus, IS security is a significant and an important issue for SME‘s and for society as a whole
motivates research and practical developments in this area from a number of perspectives;
technological as well as organisational and behavioural. The abstractness of IS security
however, seems to indicate that the IS security area calls for conceptual and philosophical
approaches when analysing the theoretical fundamentals of IS security. Compared to for
example the (general) concept of risk, the concepts of IS security and IS security risk have
rarely been problemised in a research question.
Research Objective
The description of the problem area above posed the question;
Are SME’s in Arusha adequately prepared to meet this new challenge and if not what
could these SME’s do about it?
The researcher therefore set out to establish if there is really an emergence of a threat and if
so; how it relates to the business operations of the SME‘s in Arusha. As already pointed out
above the internet is or will become the major information infrastructure in most business
sectors and consequently involvement of Information Systems (IS) security to protect this
information structure becomes necessary. This relationship is now then summarised into a
comprehensive research question for this paper: Which is to:
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23. Determine the information systems security readiness of SME’s located in Arusha and
its significance to the success of the business’s operations?
This comprehensive research question comprises the understanding of IS security as a
whole. The first part is conceptual while the second – its significance to the success of the
business‘s operations – is more practical. The question might also be interesting from a
philosophical point of view, but as emphasized earlier, it also has practical relevance for
society.
This would follow by picking a suitable candidate to attempt represent the majority of other
SME‘s in Arusha namely Habari Node Ltd; the ―leading ISP in Arusha‖ is an SME itself that is
channelling Internet to many other SME‘s in the region. The research objective can then be
further broken down into 3 sub-objectives;
 To critically assess the relevant literature on cyber security, small firms,
usage/importance of the internet and information security measures that are
currently being used.
 By assessing the current IS/IT security situation at Habari Node Ltd.
 By assessing the current IS/IT security situation of the clients of Habari
Node Ltd
 To identify the vulnerabilities and potential threats that could exist at Habari Node
Ltd and their clients.
 By running non-intrusive but penetrative security scans and vulnerability
tests on already accessible online points for selected SME‘s in Arusha.
 To propose possible measures to meet alleviate or mitigate these threats or
vulnerabilities.
The comprehensive research question can then be divided into three sub-questions:
1. Is access to the Internet important for business operations?
a. How dependent a business operation on the internet.
b. Are there I.T usage policies in place for employees using the computers and
by extension the Internet in the SME‘s.
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24. 2. Is there awareness of cyber threats;
a. Are there any measures being taken to deal with these threats?
b. If not how could the awareness of cyber threats get generated?
3. What implications or significance do breaches of cyber security have and how do
they impact on business operations?
a. What are the common vulnerabilities faced by SME‘s in Arusha and how can
these threats be mitigated?
These questions are mainly sequential; the investigation of cyber security measures takes
place after evident and valid cyber security threats have been defined.
1.3. Significance of the Research
On top of being a requirement for the fulfillment of the masters in business degree; this study
aimed to create awareness and to contribute to the general pool of knowledge out there on
information systems security. Though more specifically targeted the the Arusha based
Internet users, I.T technicians and IT managers, in both public and private institutions where
ICT is a strategic tool in enabling core business operations. These categories of actors could
be interested, and thus have an understanding of cyber security and that being online
introduces vulnerability.
Since the significance of proper IS security for an organisation is proportional to the
organisation‘s dependence on information. An organization‘s IS security affects not only the
organisation itself, but also its external parties (Von Solms, 1999). Not only do shared
information systems and infrastructures require an accepted level of security, but also the
organizations themselves must be considered secure enough to act in these ‗e-arenas‘. An
analogy is traffic safety; it is not enough to build safe roads, we must also have shared traffic
rules and safe cars (von Solms, 1999).
As well as point out to the policy makers the gaps in our legal ICT infrastructure and highlight
areas that would be addressed to improve the nation‘s ICT framework for the betterment of
ICT service provisioning and usage. It should be noted the ICT is already being used as a
criteria to determine countries capabilities. For example; Tanzania is ranked 120 on the
networked readiness index in 2009–2010 in a global information technology report on ICT for
sustainability out of 133 economies (Dutta and Mia, 2010).
24

25. Lastly it is hoped that this research will assist future researchers in the quest to carry further
research.
1.4. Limitations and De-limitations of the Research
The assessment was limited to Arusha town and the surrounding environ, though cyber
threats by their nature where not geographically limited.
Accessibility to data and the poor collection and storage capabilities of Tanzania in general
were limited and therefore correct and relevant data was difficult to find. Improvising was
made as assumptions were then based on fairly old data or related data.
Also it did not aim to quantify the challenges or awareness in terms of figures; instead the
relative values were assessed. Quantifying the scale of awareness to cyber challenges in
terms of figures would have required a different approach and it would not have been
possible to visualize the result in the same way.
1.5. Chapter Summary
Chapter one has given a brief introduction on the dissertation, this has also given a brief on
the internet growth in Arusha, Tanzania, Habari Node as a company, its activities and
clientele. It has also gone in depth to elaborate the aims and objectives of this dissertation.
25

26. Chapter Two: Literature Review
2.1. Introduction
Arusha region is found in northern Tanzania. Arusha shares its northern border with the
Republic of Kenya. To the west Shinyanga region is found and to the northwest Mara region,
to the northeast Arusha region borders to Kilimanjaro region, further east is Tanga region, to
the south Dodoma region; where the capital city of Tanzania is situated. Arusha region
combines both highland which include Mount Meru (4,566 mm. asl.) and low land.
Temperatures average 21º C and lowlands temperatures average 26º C; rainfall ranges from
250 mm to 1200 mm per annum.
Arusha region covers total of 86,999 sq. km. of which 3,571 sq. km (4.1%) is water. It is the
largest region in Tanzania occupying 9.2% of the mainland. The last census in 1988 recorded
a population of 1,351,675 individuals and the current projections for 1998 indicate 1,963,200
individuals. In comparison Tanzania total population is at 42,746,620 as of 2011 and a
country area of 945,087 sq. km.
The existing economic activities and industries are mining, tourism, forestry, diary, milling,
brewery and other agricultural sectors. Though the activity most associated with this study
seems to be tourism as the Arusha region is endowed with rich tourism potentials due to the
presence of the National parks attracts a lot of visitors for outside Arusha. Although it is
claimed that the tourism industry is yet to be developed properly to meet the high quality of
standards required by tourists; opportunities exist in all areas of safari tours to cover game
viewing, professional hunting, photographic expeditions, trekking and mountain climbing,
camping safaris. As well as hotel facilities of high quality are still in demand from small private
lodges, luxury tented camps, hotels.
The Arusha Municipality is also a host to a number of International organisations including
the International Crime Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the regional secretarial of the World
Health Organisation (WHO), Pan African Postal Union, the Secretariat of the East African
Cooperation (EAC) and the Eastern and Southern African Management Institute (ESAMI) to
mention but a few. Recent developments i.e. sprouting growth of small scale industries, local
tour operators opening new offices or international tour operators setting up local branches
26

27. and related business activities in the area can be said to be SME‘s. These developments
show that the Arusha municipality is gradually becoming an economic hub and it is destined
for growing businesses and is thus becoming a fast expanding city. Furthermore due to the
increase in the economic and development activities the demand for office space, residential
accommodation and Internet demand will definitely grow in near future.(SIDO, (2011)).
According to the SME policy 2003; the SMEs nomenclature is used to mean micro, small and
medium enterprises. It is sometimes referred to as micro, small and medium enterprises
(MSMEs). The SMEs cover non-farm economic activities mainly manufacturing, mining,
commerce and services. There is no universally accepted definition of SME. Small
enterprises are mostly formalized undertakings engaging between 5 and 49 employees or
with capital investment from Tshs.5 million to Tshs.200 million. Medium enterprises employ
between 50 and 99 people or use capital investment from Tshs.200 million to Tshs.800
million. This is illustrated in the table below:
Table 2: Categories of SMEs in Tanzania
Employees
Category Capital Investment in Machinery (Tshs.)
headcount
Micro enterprise 1–4 Up to 5 million
Small enterprise 5 – 49 Above 5 million to 200 million
Medium
50 – 99 Above 200millionto 800 million
enterprise
Large enterprise 100 + Above 800 million
N.B In the event of an enterprise falling under more than one category, then the level of
investment will be the deciding factor, (M.O.T&I, 2002).
According to Barakat (2001), he reported that with evidence Small Medium Enterprises play a
vital role in encouraging the national economic development of any country. SME produce
much of the creativity and innovation that fuels economic progress and also create a lot of
new jobs. 90 % of the total number of companies is comprised of Small medium enterprises
in most countries, which provides an average 70% of job opportunities (OECD, 1997).
27

28. Furthermore SMEs account for over 95% of organizations and 60-70% of employment and
generate a large share of new jobs in OECD economies (OECD, 2000).
Table 3: Sample List of SME’s in Arusha
Sample List of SME's in Arusha
Sector Company Name
Knitwear and Garments AGAPE Women Group
Plastic And Rubber Alfa Plast Mould
Antique Makonde Carving Co-op
Knitwear and Garments
Society Ltd
Antique Makonde Carving Co-
HANDCRAFT
Operative
ENGINEERING Approtec
ENGINEERING Arusha Galvanising Co. (AGACO)
Food Processing Boogaloo Ltd
Food Processing Darsh Industries
KANFRAN ENGINEERING WORKS
Food Processing
LTD
Kilimanjaro Metal shapers
ENGINEERING
(KEMESHA)
Mixed Products Lucha Herbalist Group
ENGINEERING Mdomewo
Food Processing NYIREFAMI LTD.
Food Processing Pestige Industries Ltd
President‘s Food and Beverages
Food Processing
Company
Food Processing Rest Products
Food Processing Roselyn Products
Food Processing Rowen Natural Products
ENGINEERING SIDO TDC Arusha
ENGINEERING SUDERETA (ELCT)
Other TEMDO
Opportunities and Threats faced by SMEs
There are major incentives or opportunities for new entrepreneurs and small-to- medium-
sized businesses to use the Internet because it helps reduce transaction costs and level the
playing field [Evans and Wurster, 1997]. Among these opportunities for SMEs, are the wider
and richer communications, expanding scope of marketing, partnering with suppliers and
28

29. reducing cost of operations [Drew, 2003]. With the report produced by Prerost (1998), there
are many various opportunities added to SMEs, including productivity and efficiency for
business process and development of new market opportunities (B2C and B2B) likewise
access to global market. However, how to use the Internet as an opportunity to SMEs usually
depends on the firm and business factors [Drew 2003]. These influenced factors may include;
Internet knowledge; smaller firm's technical and the pace of innovation and change in the
industry; the rate at which the market is growing; the structure of the industry in which the firm
competes; the sources of competitive advantage for the smaller business; the strategic intent
of the larger competitors; and the technical and Internet strengths of the larger competitors.
Creating awareness of the new opportunities generated by ICT is still necessary in some
developing countries, as well as in many of their enterprises. In particular, small- and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are not yet familiar with these opportunities. Nevertheless,
several developing countries have already started to benefit from ICT opportunities.
Outsourcing using new technologies such as IT outsourcing and BPO is a business-driven
phenomenon. The rapid growth of the internet, albeit limited penetration ratio in the least
developing countries including Tanzania, offers opportunities to SMEs in LDCs to compete in
the global job market for outsourced products and services that combine the retail use of the
telephone and computers.
Description of Internet Users
A survey conducted between April and June 2010 showed that there has been a significant
growth in Internet usage as compared to other traditional means of communication such as
the post office. The results of the survey showed that by June 2010 they were close to 5
million Internet users in Tanzania translating to about 11% of all Tanzanians. Those using
Cyber cafes were only 5%, 55% were from organisations/institutions and 40% from SOHO
and households (T.C.R.A, 2010). It should be noted that Arusha is one of the highest per
region count on Internet use.
Though on-line experiences and effective use of the Internet capabilities range greatly among
SMEs and are closely linked to the educational background of users. University-educated
users are more likely to use the Internet to obtain information on production technologies,
29

30. examine market trends and opportunities, assess the activities of domestic and international
competitors, and locate potential suppliers. The survey shows that while a significant number
of SMEs use the Internet for their business operations like email, research, the degree and
depth of research capability is limited. However, for the few companies which do use the
research function extensively, there is a clear impact on sales.
Defining Accessible Information Systems and Cyber security
IT refers specifically to technology, essentially hardware, software and telecommunications
networks. It is thus both tangible (e.g. with servers, PCs, routers and network cables) and
intangible (e.g. with software of all types). IT facilitates the acquisition, processing, storing,
delivery and sharing of information and other digital content. In the European Union, the term
Information and Communication Technologies or ICT is generally used instead of IT to
recognize the convergence of traditional information technology and telecommunications,
which were once seen as distinct areas.
The UK Academy of Information Systems (UKAIS) defines information systems as the means
by which people and organizations, utilizing technology, gather, process, store, use and
disseminate information. It is thus concerned with the purposeful utilization of information
technology. The domain of study of IS, as defined by the UKAIS, involves the study of theories
and practices related to the social and technological phenomena, which determine the
development, use and effects of information systems in organizations and society. Mingers
notes that, although technology is the immediate enabler of IS, ‗IS actually is part of the much
wider domain of human language and communication, that IS will remain in a state of
continual development and change in response both to technological innovation and to its
mutual interaction with human society as a whole.‘(Ward and Peppard, 2002)
Prior to the 1990‘s businesses mainly used private networks to communicate to other parties
but during the 1990s, something happened that made us redefine our society or economy; the
spread of Internet usage. The main reason for this was the invention and spreading of the
World Wide Web (WWW), which made the Internet more accessible to people who were not
technically-minded or experts. This made the Internet interesting as a professional channel
and information flows began to dislocate to the Internet, and so terms like the digital economy
(Tapscott, 1996), electronic commerce (e-commerce) and electronic government (e-
30

31. government) were soon coined (Turban et al., 2002). Other user friendly communication
functions like electronic learning (e-learning), electronic booking/reservations (e-ticketing),
digital calling (VoIP) and improved data transmission etc. begun to emerge.
So while Information systems are moving out of the backroom low-level support position(s), to
emerge as the nerve centres of organizations and competitive weapons at the front end of
businesses (Galliers and Leidner, 2003). Their use of the Internet presents a challenge to
most businesses due to the amplified accessibility to sensitive or confidential information. The
paradox is that the main reason for the Internet growth is that it is a public network that
originally was designed for openness and flexibility, and not for security making. Information
security is one of the most crucial issues in the information age. WikiLeaks showed that
securing sensitive data online can be more difficult than initially realized, between the ever-
growing sophistication of hackers and human errors.
Cyber security is a relatively new field, as its study is directly related to the rise of digital
technologies. This also means that cyber security has evolved apart from most other
conceptions of security. Despite cyber security‘s unique development, there is a continuing
struggle to define it clearly and in such a way as to allow the definition to evolve along with
digital technology.(Kristina Cole et al., 2008).
The International Telecommunications Union developed a paper offering a common definition
of cyber security for the World Summit on the Information Society in 2005.
This paper offered three elements that cyber security often refers to:
1. Actions and measures, both technical and non-technical, with the express purpose of
protecting computers, networks, software, data and other related digital technologies from
all threats
2. “The degree of protection resulting from the adoption of these activities and measures”
3. Professional activity of implementing the above mentioned actions and measures,
including research, analysis and policy development.
31

32. This notion of security includes protection from disruptions in confidentiality, integrity,
availability, and often non-repudiation of the above mentioned digital technologies and
information. There are generally two types of security, passive and active. Passive security
relates to processes such as system hardening where the system defence is bolstered in
such a way as to resist attack or minimize damage. Active security involves actually tracking
attackers and retaliating in an effort to stop an existing attack or to prevent another. However,
active security relies on the ability to verifiably identify the attacker, which is extremely difficult
given the anonymous nature of communication technologies, and therefore cyber security in
this context refers primarily to passive defence techniques. Such techniques do include more
active measures such as early warning systems and legislation criminalizing cybercrime, as
long as such measures stop short of active retaliation.
Like all basic security measures, cyber security is bound by the principle that one only
protects something with effort proportional to its value. Poulsen's (an international renowed
hacker) Law touches on this when he said ―Information is secure only when it costs more to
get than its worth”. That is to say, a small business‘s inventory database should not be
secured with a multi-million dollar security program. Cyber security necessarily requires the
presence of digital technology, or it does not apply. While one may create cyber security
policy without actually possessing the associated technologies, there is little point, and unless
acquisition of said technologies is imminent, such policy is a waste of time and effort.(Kristina
Cole et al., 2008). Below is a summary of the Vulnerabilities, threats and Attacks categories.
Table 4: Vulnerabilities, Threats, and Attacks Categories Summary
Vulnerabilities Threats Attacks
Poor Design Intrusion Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed DoS (DDoS)
Technologies Spam Un-authorised Access
Applications Worm Information Tampering
Database Virus Cross-site Scripting
Networks Malware IP Spoofing
Monitoring tools Spyware Insider Malicious Activities
Source: (Colonel Louis H. Jordan and Saadawi", 2011)
32

33. 2.2. Relevance of Theories and Principles of the Study
Conceptual framework
The study‘s conceptual framework attempts to shows that a relationship exists between
communication infrastructural modifications and business operations and Cyber activity and
highlights the importance of their vulnerability to future scenarios of changed conditions. It
also shows how awareness, policy and/or technical adaptations cope with the added stresses
of cyber-attacks/threats leads to adapted Information systems; and that adaptation options
will, in turn, feedback to business environmental conditions. The researcher started out
assuming that; ―there is a relationship between the improved accessibility of internet to
Arusha with the increase in the incidences of cyber-attacks‖.
Source: Author, 2011
Finally it highlights the importance of awareness, coordination, policy and decision support in
assisting with credible assessment of adaptation options, and especially in analyzing their
trade-offs between business operational goals (e.g. generation of profit, minimizing damaging
effects to business operational budgets, the loss of service and other components of the
cyber-attacks) and developmental costs (e.g. maximizing traffic transmission, incorporating
cyber security capability, increasing response capability, infrastructure modifications and
33

34. other related modifications). Improved decision support systems are needed to help in
designing and interpreting more quantitative analyses of trade-offs between access to
information and developmental costs.
Model for Assessing Cyber Security Challenges in Arusha
The main idea of the research was to find out the effect of the recently connected fibre to
their daily operations. Controls and tools to determine if this effect was significant or not and
point out the vulnerabilities and remedies to allay the effect were identified. The researcher
then gathered information primarily through a literature review and extensive research over
the internet.
The proposed assessment method will be to use the Enterprise Information Security
Assessment Method (EISAM), a comprehensive method for assessing the current state of the
enterprise information security. The method is useful in helping guide top management‘s
decision-making because of the following reasons:
1) it is easy to understand,
2) it is prescriptive,
3) it is credible, and
4) It is efficient.
The single value from an assessment is presented in the form of an EIS score. For instance,
the fulfilment of information security at an enterprise according to EISAM can be presented
as a percentage, see figure below;
34

35. Figure 3: An Example of EIS score from assessment of two companies
Source: (Soderbom, 2007)
EISAM is based on four standards on information security. Together, the requirements and
questions from these standards form a database on enterprise information security, herein
referred to as the EIS database. Brief descriptions of the four standards included in the
database are as follows.
ISO/IEC – ―17799, Information technology – Code of practice for information security
management‖ is an international standard published by ISO/IEC. EISAM uses the first
version of ISO/IEC, which consists of ten high-level groups.
NIST – The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has published the SP
800-26 Security Self-Assessment Guide for Information Technology Systems. This special
publication (SP) is, as the name states, a self-assessment guide consisting of an extensive
questionnaire.
ISF – The Standard of Good Practice for Information Security (SOGP) is produced by the
Information Security Forum (ISF), an international association of over 260 organizations. The
Standard is based on a wealth of material, in-depth research and the extensive knowledge
and practical experience of ISF members, and is updated at least every two years. ISF
SOGP is grouped into five high level ―aspects‖.
35

36. OCTAVE – The Operationally Critical Threat, Asset, and Vulnerability Evaluation method is
released by CMU/SEI. OCTAVE uses three ―catalogues‖ of information to maintain
modularity and keep the method separate from specific technologies. One of these
catalogues is the Catalogue of Practices version 2.0 which is used in EISAM. It provides the
means to measure an organization‘s current security practices and to build a strategy for
improving its practices to protect its critical assets.
The EIS database contains a total of 1365 entries, i.e. all questions and criteria from the four
standards. Three independent dimensions of information security were identified from the
theory in the EIS database. These three dimensions, which constitute EISAM, are Scope,
Purpose and Time. With a foundation consisting of four well established standards on
information security, EISAM makes information security comprehensible, and thus renders
straightforward assessments that give easily comprehensible results(Soderbom, 2007).
However, to be able to perform an assessment the EIS categories have to be expressed in
assessable terms. As research methods are limited by practical challenges on gathering
information in Arusha and Tanzania in general. So primarily independent tests were run then
secondarily an anonymous survey was carried out in Arusha targeting small and medium
enterprises (SME) (M.O.T&I, 2002) and visit a number of government entities and NGO‘s in
and around Arusha and ask if and how they were affected by network and computer crime in
the prior year and what steps they‘ve taken to secure their organizations.
Based on the previous models of cyber security assessment the researcher developed a list
of initiatives that were expected to be assessed from comprehensive cyber security
assessment programs. The initiatives had to be high level enough so as to avoid technical
specifics, as the technology is constantly evolving. With that in mind, the initiatives were
expect to span all three security fields. By drawing specific initiatives from international
conventions on cyber security that applied to my framework. i.e.;
 Standards and Policies for System Security Measures
 Cybercrime Legislation
 Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT/CSIRTs)
 Higher Education Programs
36

37.  End-User Education
 Identity Theft Legislation
 System Certification and Accreditation
 Law Enforcement for Cybercrime.
Once the policies are fully approved, they should be made available to all users who are
affected. Finally, all policies should be updated annually to reflect changes in organization or
culture.
Basic Policy Requirements
Policies must:
• Be implementable and enforceable
• Be concise and easy to understand
• Balance protection with productivity
Policies should:
• State reasons why policy is needed
• Describe what is covered by the policies
• Define contacts and responsibilities
• Discuss how violations will be handled
Source: (ECA, 2009)
2.3. Empirical Review
ICT Infrastructure
According to Robert Ulanga‘s 2005 country report on Cyber security in Tanzania he hinted
that ICT health was important for the economy as he pointed out that the ICT sector had seen
a significant growth and matched this growth to the similar growth in the economy in that
same period. Below are some statistics of the reports on the status of the ICT Infrastructure
in 2005. By then only two operators were licensed to provide basic telecommunication
services, namely Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL) the incumbent
national operator and Zanzibar Telecom Limited (ZANTEL). TTCL had a national wide licence
37

38. (including Zanzibar) as opposed to ZANTEL, which has the right to operate in Zanzibar only
until February 2005; and the licence of Zantel was then extended to cover whole United
Republic of Tanzania. The total number of subscribers was about 150,000 (network capacity
is about 250,000 connections). The market structure then was dominated by four (4) mobile
operators namely Vodacom (T) Limited (1,100,000 customers), Celtel (now Airtel) (T) Ltd
(550,000 customers), Mobitel (now Tigo) (320,000 customers) and Zantel (85,000 customers)
then operating in Zanzibar. The total subscriber base was just over 2 million as of April 2005.
Regarding data communication services, there were eleven (11) public data communications
network operators with the right to install their own international gateway for routing the
international traffic. The provision of data communication services was fully competitive. The
Internet service provision was under full competition mode of licensing. There were 23
Internet service providers operating mainly in Dar es Salaam and few in major cities and
towns countrywide like Arusha. To improve service provision the National Internet Exchange
Point (NIXP) was installed and another in Arusha (AIXP) by 2006 but these two operated and
still operate independently and are not connected. Then they were only four ISPs connected
to their respective IXP. In Arusha the four ISP‘s were Benson Online Ltd (BOL), Cybernet,
Arusha Node Marie and Nexus Digital. (AIXP, (2006))
Regarding the legal regulatory framework the new licensing framework had been in effect
since February 2005, when the board of the TCRA at its 9th special meeting held in Dar-es-
salaam approved the implementation of the converged licensing framework. The board also
directed that consultations with existing operators and other stakeholders should continue to
ensure its smooth implementation. The approval was granted to facilitate the implementation
of the government‘s full liberalization policy following end of the exclusivity policy and to
effectively respond to the challenges raised by convergence in the Information
Communication Technology (ICT) Sector.
The New Converged Licensing framework was technological and service neutral where a
licensee had freedom to choose technology which is most efficient and cost effective was
free to take signals from the market as to which services are most in demand. A licensee was
also authorized to provide different services under a single license. The possibilities brought
about by the convergence phenomena include provision of various communication services
38

39. like text, data, image, voice and video over an existing infrastructure; the use of a single
transmission technology to offer various services, the provision of the same or substitutable
service by a variety of different types of providers (e.g. data over cable TV, telephone, or
even electrical power networks), substitution of mobile service for fixed service, and
integration of customer terminal equipment or access devices such as the telephone,
television and personal computers. In essence this meant that the formerly mobile telephony
providers would offer Internet services i.e. mobile internet and vice versa the Internet Service
providers could provide telephony services i.e. VoIP.
Internet access at high bandwidth was envisaged that would create new possibilities to
develop multimedia content for information, entertainment, and data processing. It was
important to note that in several countries broadband growth had by this time already
outpaced mobile telephony. The boom was mainly fuelled by software downloads, online
gaming, and e-commerce. In Tanzanian context, affordable high-speed networks could
facilitate deployment of Information and Communications Technology for development. The
converged licensing framework was meant to facilitate the above possibilities.
It is important to note that the above development of the licensing framework focused on the
deployment of more ICT infrastructure and had no focus on the correct use and/or protecting
users from illegal activities. This could be attributed to the fact that there was a very limited
deployment of ICT services with less that 150,000 people using computers and related
services at the time(Ulanga, 2005). So efforts toward cyber security and related Issues by the
government of Tanzania were done through the Law Reform Commission that circulated a
discussion paper on the introduction of legal framework for electronic commerce in Tanzania.
The discussion paper came as a result of a study that highlighted lack of relevant legislations
for electronic transactions. Two areas have been highlighted in the discussion paper namely
contracts and consumer protection. Generally the legal system in Tanzania was mainly based
on Common law. Regulatory steps to secure electronic transactions such as digital
signatures, electronic evidence, reforms to contract law, dispute settlement and others have
not yet been promulgated. In terms of contracts, the Tanzanian laws did not even recognize
electronic contracts.
39

40. Laws on consumer protection, sales and supply of goods in Tanzania were designed to
protect consumers on off-line business only which hardly applied to the online business when
it came to the matter of distance contracts. The laws did not protect consumers against any
risks involved in distance selling and buying business because when these laws were passed
the online or distance contracts were not in practice in Tanzania. It was further noted that
Tanzanian laws neither covered on-line contracts nor did they recognize cyber space; the
laws in place then provided that, the contract must be in writing and duly signed or
authenticated before a witness a requirement that was hardly applicable in cyber space.
Cyber Crimes
The discussion paper also noted that while cyber-crimes posed a significant threat to the
development of electronic transactions Tanzanian Laws did not recognize criminal activities
on the internet. For example illegal intrusion into a computer system could not be prosecuted
with the current legislations at the time which required the perpetuator‘s physical presence.
So also went for computer fraud which in the most simplistic form can be described as
stealing something of value by means of computers and could be extended to as far as
fraudulently giving instructions to a computer to transfer funds into a bank account or using a
forged bank card to obtain money from a cash dispenser.
Another was data protection, where a threat was defined as the use of data processing
techniques that could pose a danger to the rights and freedoms of those individuals whose
personal data is subjected to some form of automated processing. There was no law in
Tanzania which protected data or databases in Tanzania. The main concern here was the
right to privacy, data protection and danger of information misuse. Spam in its most simplistic
form is the act of sending large number of unsolicited mails with an intention to market a
product or to deceive the users. This aspect has not been covered in the discussion paper,
however currently spam is one of the most visible unwanted activities by the computer users
in Tanzania.
Cyber-attacks: as Tanzania was embarking on deployment of e-government and more and
more organizations were adopting the internet as a medium of transmission for their core
business functions. The e-mail was replacing the fax as the main medium of transmission.
40

41. The organizations that heavily depend of the internet and computer network were now at risk
from cyber-attacks which could be deliberate attempts to disrupt services (Denial of Service
Attacks) or even more sophisticated attacks. The information document did not address these
aspects of cyber security while there was no legislation which covered these aspects.
(Ulanga, 2005).
Enumerating all possible Internet vulnerabilities, threats, and attacks in an exact list is not
feasible, yet they can be categorized as the table below shows.
Figure 4: Vulnerability Possibilities
Vulenerabilty scan of randomly selected SME's using
Nessus/OpenVAS
SME.1 High Severity problem(s) found
SME.16 Medium Severity problem(s) found
SME.17 High Severity problem(s) found
SME.18 Medium Severity problem(s) found
SME.19 Medium Severity problem(s) found
SME.2 High Severity problem(s) found
SME.20 Medium Severity problem(s) found
SME.21 Medium Severity problem(s) found
SME.22 Medium Severity problem(s) found
SME.24 Medium Severity problem(s) found
SME.25 Medium Severity problem(s) found
SME.26 Medium Severity problem(s) found
SME.27 Medium Severity problem(s) found
SME.28 Medium Severity problem(s) found
SME.29 Medium Severity problem(s) found
SME.30 Medium Severity problem(s) found
SME.31 Medium Severity problem(s) found
Source: Author
Another study was carried out in 2008 by Kristina Cole et al to assess the efforts of African
nations in the realm of cyber security. They approached cyber security as a national security
concern due to an increase in the use of digital technology for critical infrastructure, for
military operations, and for intelligence gathering/management, mandating the creation of
comprehensive national cyber security plans. Although in their case it was not entirely
appropriate for developing nations as many African countries are developing nations and they
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42. possess neither robust critical infrastructures that utilize digital control systems nor highly
digitized militaries, and so thinking about cyber security issues in relation to these systems
therefore may not make sense. They therefore sought to determine how to implement cyber
security in less developed countries, as an issue not solely associated with national security
and instead assessed cyber security by focusing on initiatives that were motivated by more
than just traditional national security. In order to develop these assessment criteria, the
definitions of national, economic, and human security needed to be clarified in context of their
common usage and traditional meanings. To see where cyber security fits into the equation
they introduced the concept and model of security relationships.
Figure 5: Model of Security Relationships
In this way, cyber security is a function of the various institutions to implement the various
security measures and thus floats between the branches of security.
2.4. Chapter Summary
This chapter has attempted to give a brief description of Arusha and the businesses activities
therein. Then went ahead to show the extent to which SMEs are important to the economies
of the countries and spell out all the potentials of the small-medium enterprises, this was
followed by the classifying the cyber security challenges which are faced by SMEs.
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43. Then re-examined and combined all the existing relevant literature on the two subject‘s small-
medium enterprises (SME) and information security namely cyber security. Finally the
chapter highlighted the opportunities and the threats which mainly affect the SMEs as well as
the benefits of securing information to the SME‘s.
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44. Chapter three: Research Design and Methodology
3.1. Research Design
Outline of the case study
The study started off with formulating and deciding on the hypothesis for the study, i.e. the
purpose, the goals and the question at issue. Next followed literature studies for collection of
information on the background to the project and the framework. The creation of the
framework was a major part of the project, and was performed in two steps; creation of the
category definitions and a validation of the definitions, see Figure 3 for an overview. The next
step was the data collection, followed by the analysis of the collected data.
Figure 6: Outline of the Case Study
Source: (Soderbom, 2007)
A good design is when it has a general plan for the researchers; detailing how they will go
about answering the research questions and how they will consider and determine the
sources for data collection. In addition it will also consider the constraints they may face i.e.
location, financial resources, time, ethical issues, access to data etc. The methodology
should then ponder the fact that the researcher has idealized carefully about why a particular
strategy has been applied.
Case Studies
Saunders (2009) defines a case study a strategy for doing research which involves empirical
investigation of a particular phenomenon within its real life context using multiple sources of
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45. evidence. Yin (2003) also highlights the importance of context adding that, within a case
study the boundaries between the phenomenon being studied and the context within which it
is being studied are not clearly evident. Mortis and Wood (1991) also point out that the case
study will be necessary if we wish to gain a rich understanding of the context of our research
and the process being enacted. The motives for adopting a case study were due to the
following merits as outlined by Kothari (2001).
1) It is fairly exhaustive method which enabled the researcher to study deeply and
thoroughly different aspects of the phenomenon.
2) Its flexibility in respect to data collection; this study was carried out using a collection
of methodologies and both secondary and the primary data.
3) It saves both time and cost.
The rationale of choosing Habari Node Ltd as a case is that it is a leading ISP serving the
majority of the Arusha Internet users. HNL was identified as vantage point to investigate
Cyber security awareness as well as a focal point for the carrying out the vulnerability tests
as most of the other SME‘s to be sampled got their internet from HNL. Additionally HNL was
justified on the grounds that they keep some records of the traffic statistic and as the ISP
handles the majority of the Internet traffic collection of data was simplified. Furthermore the
independent test and vulnerability scans were best run form the ISP as in was a gateway to
ease consolidation and matching of data. So HNL was chosen to enable the research identify
vulnerabilities, facilitate arriving at solutions for dealing with these risks and possibly
disseminating these findings widely.
Primary research is an original research which gives first-hand information on a topic. This
research (such as a journal, a person, or an event) informs you directly about the topic, rather
than through another person‗s explanation or interpretation. The most common forms of
primary research are observations, interviews, surveys, experiments, and analyses of original
documents and artefact‘s. The primary research is conducted by the researcher
herself/himself and it‗s not based on other people‗s work. There are a few approaches to the
primary research and there are; Interviews, focus groups, experiments, structured penetration
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46. tests and scans, surveys etc. This research is normally more costly as compared to the
secondary research.
Secondary research is the second-hand information on your topic, information at least once
removed from the original. This information has been complied, summarized, analysed,
synthesized, interpreted, and evaluated by someone studying primary research. Journal
articles, libraries, web, publications, magazines, newspapers, encyclopaedia entries,
documentaries, and non-fiction books are typical examples of such secondary sources.
Secondary research is cheaper than the primary research; it‗s not as useful, accurate, as
specific, primary research. (Saunders, 2009)
Area of the study
The research was done at the HNL offices located at the Arusha International Conference
Centre (AICC) in Arusha. The selection of the study area was based on various reasons.
First, almost data concerning Internet traffic were available. Secondly continuous availability
of power and Internet connectivity was guaranteed. Also AICC was the ideal area for the
research due to financial, work and time constraints.
The first phase of the research constituted of collecting secondary data from the literature
review, According to Saunders et al (1996), there are two main reasons for looking back into
the literature, first the preliminary search assists in generating and refining the research
ideas. And secondly, a critical review is an integral part of the research process. Likewise to
most research projects, literature review is the early activity in their researches; the same
applies to this, after the first literature search, the researcher was able to redefine the
parameters more exactly and undertook further searches, keeping in mind research goals
and objectives. The literature review helping in coming up with a good insight and an
understanding into the previous research done on to the trends and this topic which have
emerged.
Sample and sampling procedures
The next phase of the research constituted of determining the population for the study which
was SME‘s based in Arusha city and determining the sample size by short listing of the
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47. potential SME‘s where the sampling could be carried out. Companies which fit the criteria
were those that matched the description in Tanzania‘s SME policy as well as determining
what would be the best tools to use to carry out the various vulnerability tests. It was
convenient to pick out a sample out the entire population and in this study just one SME
(HNL) and its clientele was chosen for the purpose of generating the required information.
The respondents were information system professionals, managers, directors, support IT
staff and HNL‘s vast cross-section of client‘s.
The purposive or judgemental sampling technique was used select representative from the
directors and managers. Stratified sampling where respondents were grouped into their
respective skills sets was used to increase the level of representativeness i.e. I.T trained staff
were not considered in the same category as an accountant using the Internet to check
emails. The simple random sampling technique helped the researcher to select members
from each subgroup.
The next phase of the research was primary data collection using these data collection
instruments. Which started with the interviewing of the small groups or units of inquiry
(unstructured interviews) is that of the two stage triangulation research method, this was
followed by a detailed questionnaire, testing quantitatively a much larger sample of
employees and consumers. This method of quantitative method, was recommended by
Grove and burns (1997), it‗s a relatively a new approach and is often called the triangulation
method.
Interviews will be used to gather reliable and valid data relevant to the research objectives
and may be categorized in to three categories [Saunders et al, 2003].
i) Structured interviews - It involves the use of the questionnaires which are based on a
predetermined and identical set of questions.
ii) Semi structured interviews - Here the researcher has a list of themes and topics to cover,
though these may vary from interview to interview depending upon the organizational context.
The order of questions may also be varied depending upon the flow of the conversation.
Some new questions may also be raised basing on the discussions. It also involves tailoring
to specific research protocols and also used to assess and rate the abilities of potential
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48. research participants in four areas that represent part of the standard of competence to
consent in many jurisdictions
iii) Unstructured interviews - Here there are no predetermined list of questions hence being
an informal interview, with this form of interview the interviewee is free to talk about the
Behaviour, events and beliefs in relation to the research subject. Being that this type
interview is mainly based on the interviewee perceptual experience, it‗s the reason as to why
it‗s known as informant interview and also known as in depth interview because it‗s used to
explore the deepness of the general area in which the researcher is interested.
In this research both the semi- structured and unstructured interviews were integrated, which
assisted in ensuring a friendly and smooth atmosphere while taking the interviews. After the
analysis the interviews were then coded and again analysed to produce a questionnaire with
reduction of categories. This questionnaire can then be used for the larger sample population
size.
In triangulation the main emphasis is on the combination of methods, for instance survey
questionnaire with in depth interviews. The main idea of taking two kinds of data collection
methods is that if it differs in the kinds of data support, and yet are the same in conclusion,
then confidence in the conclusions is increased.
The overriding advantage of the interview is its adaptability. An adept interviewer can follow
up probe responses, up ideas and investigate motives and feelings which the questionnaire
can never do. The way in which a reply is made can reveal valuable information. There are a
few disadvantages as well. Interviews are expensive, small number of the people can be
interviewed with in arrange of time and they are also time consuming (Hussey, 1997).
Questionnaires, Survey and case studies
Questionnaires on the other hand are the less expensive, most popular methods of collecting
data and less time consuming than conducting interviews and very large samples can be
obtained. Hussey and Hussey (1997) identified some important factors to be considered
while using questionnaire and these are; types of questions, sample size, wordings, including
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49. instruction, design, method of distribution and return, wording of any accompanying letter,
method of collecting and analysing, actions to be taken if questionnaire is not returned.
Other advantages of using questionnaires are;
1) Respondents feel free to explain their opinions especially if anonymity is an option.
2) They avoid interviewer bias as the interviewer is not in a position to induce the
respondent.
3) Uniformity of responses is achieved particularly when a closed ended question is
employed.
4) Respondents can answer the questions in their own time.
5) Compared to interviews it may be a better store of information.
6) Confidentiality may draw out even more answers.
7) Distant respondents can be used.
8) Can be accomplished with minimum staff and facilities.
Disadvantages include;
1) It is only for literate people
2) Questionnaires have a low rate of return
3) Does not allow or give the respondent to seek clarification.
4) With mailed questionnaires one does not have the opportunity to supplement the
information in the responses.
5) Closed questionnaire limits alternatives.
Source: (Adam, 2007)
Different distribution techniques were also described by Hussey and Hussey (1997). For
some techniques the questionnaires were circulated to the employees and consumers
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50. through telephone, post, group and individual email distribution. All the above factors were
considered during the choice of method of distribution and the preparation of the final set of
questionnaire to be used in the survey.
Bell (1993) says that surveys can provide answers to questions like What, Where, When, And
How. It tries to elaborate the problems of representativeness from other approaches like case
studies or most of the qualitative approaches. This approach can be termed as fact finding
mission and may contribute little towards the development of a shaping theory or hypotheses.
The effects from the survey can then be used to test a theory or hypotheses. The data here is
primarily quantitative but may also be qualitative in nature as it represents people‘s views
about an issue.
The Web Based Survey Tool
Taking into the consideration the above points the survey was then completely web based
when carried out and a set of questionnaire was also designed to collect the primary data. By
making it web based it both reached the respondents easier, facilitated adjustments and
gathering the data was greatly facilitated.
Reliability
The reliability of a study is how well it will produce the same results on separate occasions
under the same circumstances. For instance, if a study is well controlled and documented,
the reliability will be high, and another researcher who follows the same procedure should get
the same, or similar, results
Validity
Validity deals with how well the study measures what is supposed to be measured. High
validity means that the results accurately reflect the concept being measured. Both the
research method and the way the study is performed are covered.
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51. 3.2. Methodology
Process of conducting the case study
The research method used for conducting the assessment in this Master of Business degree
project is based on Yin‘s Case Study Research: Design and Methods (Yin, 2003). The
process for conducting the case study research followed the same general process as
followed for other researches: plan, collect data, analyse data, and disseminate findings.
More detailed steps are given below(Neale et al., 2006).
1. Plan
• Identified the stakeholders who will be involved.
• Brainstormed the case study topic, considering types of SME‘s and why
Habari was in a unique position to address my need.
• Identified what information was needed and from whom.
• Identified any documents needed for review.
• Listed stakeholders to be interviewed or surveyed (national, facility, and
beneficiary levels) and determine sample if necessary.
• Ensured research would follow international and national ethical research
standards, including review by ethical research committees.(Trochim,
(2006))
2. Developed Instruments
 Developed interview/survey protocols —the rules that guided the administration
and implementation of the interview/survey to ensure consistency across
interviews/surveys, and thus increase the reliability of the findings. The following
were standardised and written out by the researcher be included in the protocol:
o What to say to interviewees when setting up the interview/survey;
o What to say to interviewees when beginning the interview/survey, including
ensuring informed consent of the respondent
o What to say to respondent in concluding the interview;
o What to do during the interview (Example: Take notes? Audiotape? Both?); and
o What to do following the interview (Example: Fill in notes? Check audiotape for
clarity? Summarize key information for each? Submit written findings?).
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