5. Afterword In the Internet and its related industries, Africa has an opportunity to compete and succeed internationally. With a young population and high Internet adoption rates, Africa is set to catch up to the rest of the world relatively quickly. Africa is deploying infrastructure in a novel way, relying on newer technologies like mobile devices, and 3G and 4G to drive Internet adoption. While Africa’s opportunities are great, it also faces challenges when securing Internet infrastructure. Many people use older hardware that cannot use up-to-date software, putting their systems at risk. Many people use pirated software products, which also present major security risks since they may not be patched to fix vulnerabilities or may contain malware. Many African governments also lack effective legal and regulatory frameworks to support Internet infrastructure security. Some governments negatively impact Internet infrastructure by blocking or restricting the Internet for citizens or stakeholders. Blocking or restricting the Internet limits the capabilities of stakeholders to respond and collaborate to mitigate security threats. The Guidelines provide the key recommendations for protecting Internet infrastructure security. The recommendations represent the most important actions that need to be taken, and the essential principles to guide them, to create a baseline of Internet infrastructure security in Africa. In order to more thoroughly secure Internet infrastructure, more specific recommendations and best practices should be created by other African organizations such as CSIRTs and the proposed ACS3C. Only with ongoing multistakeholder efforts from the African Internet community can Africa overcome its challenges, embrace its opportunities, and become an Internet world leader. 22 Internet Infrastructure Security Guidelines for Africa internetsociety.org