INTRODUCTION
The Sherrif Security Indicator (TSSI) is an annual online survey conducted to commemorate Cyber Security Awareness Month. TSSI surveys the security concerns of people living in Ghana. This is the seventh edition.
This year’s survey asked respondents to indicate their greatest and least security concerns from the following 10 security threats: disaster/epidemic, galamsey (illegal mining), hacking, identity theft, inability to meet financial obligations, payment card fraud, personal safety, security of online banking/shopping, transport accident, and national security. Galamsey is a new security concern introduced in this year’s survey. The institutional trust question is also introduced in this year’s survey.
Respondents ranked inability to meet their financial obligations as their greatest security concern and ranked payment card fraud as their least security concern. The respondents also had more confidence in private institutions in protecting them against their greatest security concerns than state institutions.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The survey was supported by dedicated volunteers, who helped the survey reach wider respondents. We are very grateful to these individuals: Michael Rodney Attoh, Abubakari Saddiq Adams, Abdul Karim Issah, David Davor, Jemimah Odame Mensah, Bervelyn Gyampo, Charles Fiifi Hagan, Godsway Kubi, Jude Aryertey Atter, Magdalene Otto, Dzivor Daniel Dodzi, and Stephen Oppong. We are also very grateful to our respondents and all those who have supported this survey in diverse ways.
METHODOLOGY
The survey was conducted using online questionnaires, administered via social media platforms from August to October 2026. Out of the about 4000 persons targeted for this study, 1528 responses were received.
The respondents (persons resident in Ghana) were asked questions concerning their gender, age and highest educational level. They were also asked to indicate their greatest and least security concerns, and their level of trust in private and state institutions in protecting them against their security concerns.
RESULTS
This section discusses the responses to the aforementioned questions received from the 1528 respondents.
Demographics
The majority (61%) of the respondents were males, whilst females constituted 39%.
The following were the age distributions: 37% between ages 18-25, 31% between ages 26-35, 19% between ages 36-45, 8% between ages 46-55, 3% below 18 and 2% above 55 years.
The vast majority (85%) had tertiary education, whilst 12%, 3% and less than 1% had second cycle, first cycle and no education, respectively.
Greatest security concern
The majority of the respondents ranked inability to meet their financial obligations as their greatest security concern, among the 10 security threats. This was closely followed by personal safety, then galamsey (illegal mining). Figure 1 provides the detailed responses in percentages (%).
Figure 1: Greatest security concerns of respondents (in %)
Similar to last year’s findings, the majority of males ranked inability to meet their financial obligations as their greatest security concern; whilst the majority of the females ranked personal safety as their greatest security concern.
The majority of respondents between ages 18-25 and 36-45 ranked inability to meet their financial obligations as their greatest security concern; whilst those between ages 26-35 and above 55 ranked personal safety as their greatest security concern. Those between 46-55 ranked both galamsey and personal safety as their greatest security concern, whilst those below 18 ranked both hacking and personal safety as their greatest security concern.
The majority of respondents who completed tertiary and second cycle education ranked inability to meet their financial obligations as their greatest security concern. Those who completed first cycle education ranked personal safety as their greatest security concern, whilst those without formal education ranked galamsey as their greatest security concern.
Least security concern
The majority of respondents ranked payment card fraud as their least security concern, followed by identity theft, then galamsey. Figure 2 provides the detailed responses in percentages (%).
Figure 2: Least security concerns of respondents (in %)
The majority of both males and females ranked payment card fraud as their least security concern.
The majority of those between ages 18-45 ranked payment card fraud as their least security concern; whilst those between ages 46-55 ranked disaster/epidemic as their least security concern. Those above 55 years ranked national security as their least security concern, whilst those below 18 ranked identity theft as their least security concern.
The majority of those who completed tertiary education ranked payment card fraud as their least security concern, those who completed first cycle education ranked disaster/epidemic as their least security concern. Those who completed second cycle education ranked galamsey as their least security concern, whilst those without formal education ranked hacking as their least security concern.
The institutional trust
The majority of the respondents had some level of confidence in both state and private institutions in protecting them against their greatest security concerns. However, the respondents had more confidence in private than state institutions. Figure 3 provides the detailed responses in percentages (%).
Figure 3: Respondents’ level of trust in institutions (in %)
ANALYSIS
Similar to last year’s findings, the inability of the respondents to meet their financial obligations and their personal safety remained their greatest security concerns, followed by galamsey. This clearly demonstrates the importance of financial security/independence, and protection against physical, emotional and psychological harm. It also reiterates the need to protect our environments, water bodies and lives from the wanton destruction caused by illegal mining activities in the country. It is noted that gender, age and educational levels of the respondents had some level of influence on their greatest security concerns.
Payment card fraud was the least security concern of the respondents, followed by identity theft. This clearly demonstrates the relegation of technology-related threats to the back burner, due to its comparatively less importance to other security concerns. It is very intriguing to note that galamsey, which was the respondents’ third greatest security concern, also turns out to be their third least security concern. It is noted that the gender of the respondents did not influence on their least security concerns, whilst their age and educational levels had some level of influence on their responses.
With close to half of the respondents expressing low trust in state institutions in protecting them against security threats, this is a wake-up call to state institutions to do their best to protect the citizenry. Protection against security threats should be seen as a public good, not a privilege.
CONCLUSION
The findings clearly demonstrate the importance of financial and personal security over information security to Ghanaian residents. Inability to meet financial obligations and personal safety have consistently been the greatest security concerns of persons resident in Ghana. It must, however, be noted that technological threats can severely increase the other security threats. For example, payment card fraud, online banking/shopping fraud, identity theft and hacking can lead to loss of huge sums of money and compromise the health and safety of individuals.
Although private and state institutions have roles to play in securing the citizenry against security threats, individuals are ultimately responsible for mitigating these security threats. Individuals need to put in place the right measures to prevent or minimise the impacts of these threats.
AUTHOR
Alhaji Sherrif Issah
Information Security Consultant | Director of Information Security and Data Protection, IIPGH.
For comments, contact author mysherrif@gmail.com | +233243835912.