Our Story
Africa is at a crucial point in its digital transformation, offering significant growth and innovation opportunities. However, this shift also brings cybersecurity challenges that could hinder progress.
The World Economic Forum’s 2024 report highlights the uneven growth in cybersecurity, creating a gap between resilient organizations and those struggling due to factors like threat dynamics, economic trends, and early technology adoption. Access to cybersecurity expertise has become costly, affecting global safety efforts.
Secure Africa AI addresses these challenges by leading Africa’s digital defense. We unite academia, government, and the private sector to build robust cybersecurity infrastructure and knowledge. We train skilled professionals, promote cross-sector collaboration, raise awareness, and develop effective policies and regulations. The Centre ensures Africa’s digital transformation is secure, inclusive, and sustainable by fostering a space for learning about cyber threats and coordinating initiatives across states, regions, and stakeholders..
Our Mission, Vision and Values
Bridging the Skills Gap
Address the cybersecurity skills shortage with comprehensive training programs for all skill levels. Our goal is to create a steady stream of qualified professionals ready to meet industry demands.
Promoting Cybersecurity Awareness
Increase cybersecurity awareness among the public, businesses, and government entities. We educate on the importance of cybersecurity, potential threats, and best practices for digital hygiene.
Fostering Specialized Expertise
Develop specialized training in areas like network security, threat intelligence, incident response, and digital forensics. Our aim is to cultivate experts capable of navigating complex cybersecurity challenges.
Enhancing Practical Skills
Prioritize hands-on training through labs, simulations, and real-world scenarios. We focus on improving practical skills such as threat detection, system hardening, and incident response to prepare individuals for professional challenges.
Supporting Continuous Professional Development
Offer ongoing learning opportunities to keep professionals updated on the latest threats, technologies, and best practices. This includes advanced courses, workshops, and seminars on emerging trends and innovations.
Encouraging Research and Innovation
Act as a hub for cybersecurity research and innovation. We encourage exploring new ideas, technologies, and methodologies to contribute to global cybersecurity knowledge and foster a culture of innovation.
Building a Collaborative Community
Create a platform for collaboration among cybersecurity professionals, industry experts, academia, and policymakers. We facilitate knowledge exchange, joint projects, and partnerships to enhance collective cybersecurity.
Influencing Policy and Strategy
Use our expertise to advise on and influence cybersecurity policies, strategies, and frameworks at all levels. We aim to align training and education with broader security objectives and regulatory requirements.
Promoting Ethical Practices
Instill a strong ethical foundation in all training programs, emphasizing ethical hacking, data privacy, and compliance with legal standards. We prepare professionals who possess technical skills and uphold the highest ethical standards.
Our Team
The team behind Secure AI Africa is representative of the collaborative ecosystem we wish to create – where academia, government and the private sector unite by blending the expertise of professional academics and seasoned business practioners alike, ensuring a balance between theoretical rigor and practical insights.
Kiru Pillay
Dr Kiru Pillay has over thirty-five years of experience in the ICT sector as a practitioner, academic, and public sector official, with extensive experience in emerging technologies and the cybersecurity domain. He is a Research Fellow at the universities of Stellenbosch and Witwatersrand and part of the network advising the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence.
Bruce Watson
Bruce Watson was founding Chair of Computational Thinking for AI in the Centre for AI Research and has served as professor at several universities internationally. His specialisations include explainable AI, AI for cybersecurity, cryptography (including post-quantum), hardware design, and securing the chip supply chain — all of which build upon research and engineering work in companies such as Cisco, Microsoft, and ASML.
Manoj Maharaj
Professor Manoj Maharaj is a Professor in the Discipline of Information Systems & Technology at School of Management, IT and Governance. He has extensive experience in the management and leadership of higher education and training. He has researched and published extensively in the IT and management domain.
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