Online Reporter
CYBERSECURITY is no longer an abstract concern reserved for advanced economies or technology giants.
It has become a matter of national security, public safety, and economic survival. Around the world in 2021, ransomware attacks were shutting down pipelines, intrusions were crippling hospitals, and data breaches were undermining confidence in financial systems.
Gideon Opeyemi Babatunde, a cybersecurity professional at KPMG in Canada published a paper, A Cyber Risk Management Framework to Address Evolving Threats in U.S. and Canadian Critical Infrastructure that has sparked international discussion.
Our conversation centered on how insights drawn from his North American framework could be adapted to Zimbabwe, a country increasingly reliant on digital systems for banking, energy, transportation, and government services.
Babatunde argues: while his research was conceived with the United States and Canada in mind, the framework is globally adaptable.
“Cyber attackers don’t respect borders,” he said during our call. “The threats we face in North America—ransomware, industrial control system breaches, data theft can destabilise Zimbabwe’s economy, healthcare systems, and infrastructure if proactive measures are not taken.”
His warning resonates in a nation where mobile money platforms, particularly EcoCash, dominate financial activity.
By 2021, EcoCash was handling billions of dollars in transactions annually, serving more than six million users, and enabling over 80 percent of all electronic payments in Zimbabwe.
This success has driven financial inclusion but, as Babatunde cautioned, also exposed the economy to significant cyber risks.
He noted that Zimbabwe’s vulnerabilities mirror those seen in advanced economies, but with added challenges of resource constraints and uneven regulatory capacity.
Power, telecommunications, healthcare and financial services are all tightly interconnected, meaning that a breach in one could cascade through the others.
To illustrate, he referenced the May 2021 Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack in the United States, where a single breach led to widespread fuel shortages and panic buying.
“Now imagine something similar here,” he said. “If Zimbabwe’s energy systems or telecoms were disrupted, the knock-on effects would hit hospitals, banks, and mobile money within hours.”
The Cyber Risk Management Framework (CRMF) Babatunde co-developed is structured around five pillars: continuous risk assessments to uncover weaknesses early; real-time monitoring using AI and machine learning to detect anomalies; robust incident response plans to restore services quickly; blockchain-based systems to secure and authenticate data; and workforce training to build cyber awareness across all levels.
Crucially, the framework emphasises collaboration. “Cybersecurity cannot be siloed,” he explained. “In North America, agencies like CISA and Canada’s Centre for Cyber Security partner with industry to share intelligence. In Zimbabwe, that role could be filled an infrastructure management system bringing together ministries, regulators, banks, telecoms, and utilities into a unified cybersecurity ecosystem.”
Babatunde pointed to international case studies where preparation proved decisive. In Canada, an energy company mitigated a ransomware attack through a rehearsed response plan and collaboration with government agencies. In the United States, a metropolitan transit system crippled by an industrial control breach recovered swiftly by isolating affected networks and deploying monitoring systems.
“Preparedness,” he stressed, “is what separates a temporary setback from a national crisis.”
Turning to Zimbabwe, he was candid about the risks. EcoCash has transformed financial access, but an attack on its systems could paralyse commerce and undermine trust across the economy. Government digitisation efforts—while modernising services—expand the attack surface. Hospitals increasingly dependent on electronic records risk operational paralysis without adequate protections. “Zimbabwe is digitising at pace,” Babatunde observed. “That is commendable, but cybersecurity investment must keep up. You cannot build a sustainable digital economy on weak foundations.”
Another issue he raised is the severe shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals. This shortage is global but more acute in Africa, where digital adoption has outpaced workforce development. A 2021 African Union report estimated that cybercrime was already costing the continent over USD 3.5 billion annually, with Southern Africa facing some of the sharpest risks. Zimbabwe, Babatunde argued, cannot afford to remain reactive. He urged universities to integrate cybersecurity into curricula and called for government incentives to develop local expertise. “This is not just IT,” he told me firmly. “This is national security.”
His recommendations translated into an actionable roadmap: conduct nationwide audits of vulnerabilities across power, telecoms, healthcare, and finance; establish AI-driven monitoring systems to detect threats in real time; run cyberattack simulations involving both public and private stakeholders and harmonise legislation with SADC and African Union frameworks to strengthen regional coordination.
“That kind of preparedness,” he explained, “is priceless when the real thing happens.”
He acknowledged the challenges—legal barriers that limit information-sharing, resource constraints facing smaller enterprises, and the lack of standardised metrics for readiness. Yet he remained optimistic that Zimbabwe can leapfrog by adapting global best practices like the NIST Cybersecurity Framework.
“Zimbabwe does not have to reinvent the wheel,” he said. “What is needed is adaptation, collaboration and leadership.”
As the virtual call ended, Babatunde left me with words that summed up both his research and his appeal to Zimbabwe’s policymakers: “Cybersecurity is not a cost—it is an investment in national stability.” For Zimbabwe, with economic recovery and digital modernization high on the national agenda, that message could not have been more urgent. The threats are real, the risks are growing, but so too are the tools and strategies to counter them. Whether Zimbabwe invests in resilience now or waits until a crisis forces its hand may determine the trajectory of its digital future.
