Abstract:
The swift adoption of electronic learning prior to the lockdown and within the COVID 19 pandemic era, has facilitated teaching and learning in tertiary institutions. On the other hand, it has exposed these inst itutions to cyber attacks. Recent figures indicate an upsurge of online electronic learners in the tertiary institutions in Africa. This stimulated the proliferation of cybercrimes and threats associated with electronic learning. Out of the top ten countri es in the world with high levels of cybercrime, sub Saharan Africa is host to four of those countries, namely: Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana and South Africa Hence this research was undertaken to mitigate the widespread security
breaches found in the digital le arning space. In order to attain this goal, various digital learning spaces were analysed with a view to determining the factors that make the learning spaces vulnerable to security breaches. A number of gaps were identified. Subsequently the Risk Mitigati on Framework for Africa was designed for tertiary institutions in Africa. The framework presents the minimum cybersecurity baseline to be put in place by education providers in order to ensure a safer digital learning space. It is hoped that this framework will be of immense benefit to education providers, staff and students in Africa.
Keywords: Africa, Assessment, Framework, Risk, Security, E-learning.
