The Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group (M³AAWG) participated in two sessions at the Regional Cybersecurity Summit for Africa held in Kampala, Uganda, in late November 2023. The two-day event aimed to facilitate the exchange of best practices, experiences, and lessons learned on security baselines for digital infrastructure and security for emerging technologies.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) sponsored the event in joint collaboration with the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) and the Uganda Computer Emergency Response Team (UG-CERT), with support from AfricaCERT. The purpose of the event was to showcase key standards on security, with a special focus on a framework for the creation and operation of a cyber defense center.

Over 160 participants from 30 African countries were in attendance. Additionally, six countries from different regions also participated. Most participants were policy representatives. The group also included representatives from regional universities as well as practitioners.

M³AAWG’s own Brian Scriber, an active African Anti-Abuse Working Group collaborator, presented at two sessions during the summit:

•  Evolving Security Strategies for Emerging Technologies. This session addressed IoT security and abuse in the evolving threat landscape, providing implementation-guiding best practices to secure innovative progress. IoT threats and standards efforts that are  intended to improve security and assist anti-abuse measures were covered. The session highlighted a holistic approach combining technical measures, organizational responsibility, and ongoing vigilance in the face of evolving technologies.
•  Addressing Cybersecurity Challenges to Critical Infrastructure. This session shared insights on strengthening cybersecurity across the network infrastructure and highlighted several security best common practices published through M³AAWG addressing cybersecurity challenges and enhancing cyber resilience of critical digital infrastructure.

According to Scriber, the presentations were well received and resulted in increased interest in both M³AAWG and AF-AAWG.

African Anti-Abuse Working Group (AF-AAWG)

Founded in 2020, AF-AAWG serves as a convening forum for operators in the African Internet service region. AF-AAWG fosters dialog among experts in the African region on abuse, with the objective of documenting these threats and developing anti-abuse best practices to mitigate the immediate threats, and, ideally, remediate the sources of those threats.

AF-AAWG's current initiatives focus on facilitating communication and cooperation among African countries, organizations, and peering points, enabling them to communicate threats and employ mitigation tactics.

M³AAWG supports special initiatives and partnerships that will make a significant difference in fighting global online abuse. The regional AAWGs are:

●       African Anti-Abuse Working Group (AF-AAWG)

●       Japan Anti-Abuse Working Group (JP-AAWG)

●       Latin American and Caribbean Anti-Abuse Working Group (LAC-AAWG)

For readers who want more information about the AAWGs, explore the Outreach page on the M³AAWG website .