KIGALI, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda's lower house, Chamber of Deputies, Thursday passed a cyber-crime law aimed at helping the government and the private sector to combat cyber crime.
The upper house, Senate, approved the bill earlier and sent it to the lower house. The bill still needs the approval of the president of Rwanda before entering into force.
The proposed law targets to safeguard private and government information and infrastructure against online crimes and cyber-attacks, according to the Rwandan Ministry of Information Communication Technology (ICT).
It includes penalties against cyber crimes in accordance with the country's Penal Code that is under review and those penal provisions found in the current ICT law.
"We're currently witnessing an unprecedented global cyber attack. Attacks that are threatening our economy and our national security," said Agnes Mukazibera, president of the Rwandan parliament standing committee on education, technology, culture and youth, after the voting.
The law will help the government to investigate any threats and prosecute cyber crimes in private and public institutions and defend the country from any cyber attacks, she said.
Given current advancements in information and communication technologies, certain cyber crimes may happen, said lawmaker Jean Marie Vianney Gatabazi, noting that the law was timely to respond to emerging threats.
In 2016, Rwanda thwarted more than 1,000 cyber attacks daily before they could affect targeted individuals, companies and institutions, according to the National Bank of Rwanda.
In the same year, Rwanda launched a 3 million U.S. dollars cyber security system aimed at protecting public and private institutions against online crimes.
A survey conducted by cyber security company Kaspersky Lab in January 2016 indicated that most businesses across Africa had been hit hard by cyber crime.
According to the survey, Kenya is the most attacked by cyber criminals in East Africa, with businesses in the country losing as much as 146 million U.S. dollars every year due to cyber crime. Enditem
