INSA Unveils New Data Center to Bolster Cybersecurity

Sep 1 , 2024


[ssba-buttons]

The Information Network Security Agency (INSA) has introduced a new data centre that will provide digital certificates for national institutions and private companies, ensuring data confidentiality, integrity, authenticity, and non-repudiation. The digital certificate authority (CA) will serve as a trusted third party, verifying the identity of individuals and organisations involved in digital transactions. This will help prevent fraud, unauthorised access, and other cyber threats. Authorities aspire to leverage the public key infrastructure (PKI) data centre to other African countries and generate foreign currency. INSA will act as the Root CA, a fundamental component of PKI system. According to Tigist Hamid, director of INSA, this will enable security and intelligence institutions, e-commerce companies, and those using e-government services to exchange information securely while maintaining data sovereignty. Tigist said the PKI system was designed, implemented, and deployed leveraging expertise, strengthening its digital infrastructure and promoting innovation. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) has launched the PKI on Saturday, August 31, 2024. He said securing virtual data complements the task of protecting national sovereignty and facilitating reliable and secure digital data exchange.


Radar

US Renews National Emergency, Sanctions on Ethiopia

The United States has extended the national emergency and sanctions on Ethiopia for another year under the African Growth & Opportunity Act (AGOA). Signed by President Donald J. Trump, the measure was first declared on September 17, 2021, through an executive order citing the conflict in northern region of the country as an "unusual and extraordinary" threat to U.S. national security and foreign policy. The extension, effective until September 17, 2026, keeps in place restrictions targeti...


Radar

Rockefeller Pitches Clean Cooking to Curb School Meal Emissions

A recent study has revealed the staggering environmental toll of school feeding programs. A single school serving 400 students can burn through the equivalent of 56 hectares of forest each year to fuel cooking. The Rockefeller Foundation flagged the health risks too, with most cooks, predominantly women, breathing smoke levels ten times higher than the World Health Organisation's safe limit. "If every school meal transitioned to clean cooking with electricity and solar, the emissions saved wo...


Radar

Sun-Powered Grid Brings Light to Qunbi District

A new 600KW solar mini-grid in East Hararge'sQunbi district has connected 2,200 households to electricity, marking a milestone in the recent rural electrification push. Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU) laid seven kilometres of medium-voltage and 10 kilometres of low-voltage lines, installing four transformers to reach communities long cut off from power. Customers cover only meter and installation costs before accessing the service. The project is part of the national strategy to expand energ...