CREST pledges support for the Accra Call for Cyber Resilient Development 

Released: 29 November 2023

CREST, an international not-for-profit, membership body that promotes standards and best practices within the global cybersecurity industry, today pledges its support for the Accra Call for Cyber Resilient Development. 

CREST is taking part in the first Global Conference on Cyber Capacity Building, (GC3B), which begins today in Accra, Ghana. The conference is a first-of-its-kind gathering of leaders, decision-makers and experts working toward effective, sustainable and inclusive stewardship of international cooperation for cyber resilient development. 

The Accra Call for Cyber Resilient Development – launched today by the Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Ms. Owusu-Ekuful, at GC3B – aligns with CREST’s goals of raising global cyber security standards and professionalism, heralding a new era of prioritising the measurement of effective cyber resilience funded through international and national development programs. 

The Accra Call aims to stimulate global action in terms of greater cyber resilience and promote cyber capacity building that supports broader development goals, effectively serving the needs and priorities of developing countries.  

Nick Benson, CEO of CREST, says: “As a signatory to the Accra Call, we are delighted to pledge our support for this excellent initiative, which builds on our work in lower income countries, underlining the need for global cooperation in the fight against cybercrime, and the need to create stronger cyber resilience.  

“By endorsing the Accra Call, we are committing to play our part in demand-driven, effective and sustainable cyber capacity building, by helping to close the cyber skills gap and supporting work to professionalise the cybersecurity community. We are also underlining our ability to provide robust, sustainable methods of measuring cyber capacity building through both company and individual quality assurance, and pledging to provide affordable and accessible services in developing countries.” 

To support the Accra Call’s objective of affordability, CREST is offering a 50% discount on membership for companies in lower income countries. Up to 75% discounted examination fees on its globally recognised CRT and CPSA qualifications are also currently available. 

The call lays out a set of non-binding, voluntary, direction-setting actions that will strengthen the role of cyber resilience as an enabler for sustainable development, advance demand-driven, effective, and sustainable cyber capacity building and foster stronger partnerships and better coordination. 

It will also serve to unlock financial resources and implementation modalities. 

Progress on the Accra Call will be reviewed every two years at future iterations of the GC3B. Between each conference, the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) will create a multistakeholder ‘Accra Call community’ bringing together all its endorsers and pledging organisations, to share their experiences from their pursuit of the Call’s actions and draw lessons to inform collective follow-up on the Accra Call.  

About CREST

CREST is a not-for-profit accreditation and certification body representing the technical information security industry. CREST provides internationally recognized accreditations for organizations providing technical security services and professional level certifications for individuals providing vulnerability assessment, penetration testing, cyber incident response, threat intelligence and security operations center (SOC) services. CREST Member companies undergo regular and stringent assessment, whilst CREST certified individuals undertake rigorous examinations to demonstrate the highest levels of knowledge, skill and competence.