Virtual Infosec Africa and Exabeam Launch Ghana’s First AI-Driven Monthly Subscription Cybersecurity Solution

Published: November 28, 2024

Introduction

African businesses face over 3,000 cyberattacks weekly—the highest rate globally—demanding affordable, advanced defenses. Virtual Infosec Africa (VIA), partnering with global cybersecurity leader Exabeam, has launched Ghana’s pioneering AI-driven monthly subscription cybersecurity solution. This SIEM subscription model delivers enterprise-grade Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) without high upfront costs, ensuring data residency in Ghana for compliance and sovereignty.

Ideal for SMEs, governments, and financial institutions, this innovation addresses the cybersecurity skills gap exceeding 4 million professionals worldwide. Read on to explore how this Exabeam-VIA partnership transforms risk into resilience through agentic AI and flexible deployments.

Analysis

Partnership Overview and Launch Details

Unveiled in Accra, the solution combines VIA’s local expertise with Exabeam’s LogRhythm-Exabeam platform. Emmanuel Sekyere Asiedu, VIA’s CEO, called it “the first of its kind globally” for African organizations struggling with capital expenses. The monthly subscription cybersecurity model bases payments on organization size and capacity, enabling immediate deployment.

This approach conserves foreign reserves and aligns with Ghana’s digitalization agenda, emphasizing data sovereignty. As Asiedu noted, “None of our data is in the hands of foreigners; everything sits here in Ghana,” mitigating risks of foreign data control that could undermine economies.

Core Technical Features

Powered by a multi-agent AI SOC engine, the platform integrates six autonomous AI agents for 24/7 operations. These handle investigations, threat hunting, risk scoring, advisories, reporting, and visualization. Ramy Muhammad Ahmad, Exabeam iMETA Principal Director, highlighted its shift to “agentic AI”—autonomous yet overseen systems that detect known attacks and zero-day threats via behavioral profiling and real-time anomaly detection.

Omar Naggar, Exabeam Principal Cybersecurity Pre-Sales Engineer, stressed its unique on-premise AI capabilities for high-security environments, including offline AI model updates. This ensures full data ownership, reducing analyst workloads through automated workflows, auditing, monitoring, and zero-trust controls.

Deployment Models and Integration

Daniel Affum from VIA outlined two models: fully managed services, where VIA handles SIEM, RhythmX, RhythmAI, threat intelligence, EDR, and SOC operations; and co-managed on-premise setups for compliance needs. Both support cloud and on-premise environments, with onboarding via asset discovery, log sourcing, connector deployment, ingestion, parsing, and tuning.

Norvisi Addo, VIA Head of Security Operations, positioned VIA as a full-spectrum provider, including surveillance, incident response, managed services, endpoint protection, and forensics. “Clients only need to subscribe, just like buying data,” he said, turning complexity into simplicity.

Summary

Virtual Infosec Africa’s collaboration with Exabeam introduces an accessible AI-driven SIEM solution Ghana via monthly subscriptions. Key benefits include cost predictability, local data residency, sovereign AI, and comprehensive threat detection. Tailored for Africa’s cyber threat landscape, it bridges skills gaps and boosts resilience across sectors like finance and government.

Key Points

Practical Advice

Assessing Your Needs

Start by evaluating your cyber exposure: identify critical assets, log sources, and compliance requirements like Ghana’s Data Protection Act. Organizations facing frequent attacks or skills shortages benefit most from this subscription-based cybersecurity Africa.

Onboarding Steps

1. Contact VIA for a consultation on sizing (based on capacity).
2. Undergo asset discovery and log identification.
3. Deploy connectors for ingestion and parsing.
4. Fine-tune for your environment—VIA handles this in managed models.
5. Monitor via intuitive dashboards with AI-guided workflows.

For governments or banks, opt for on-premise to ensure sovereignty. Integrate with existing endpoint protection for holistic coverage.

Maximizing Value

Train staff on AI outputs for threat hunting. Use early-warning intelligence to shift from reactive to proactive security, reducing breach costs that average millions globally.

Points of Caution

While revolutionary, no solution eliminates all risks. A single cyber incident can still cause operational disruptions and financial losses, as noted by VIA experts. Organizations must maintain basic hygiene: regular updates, access controls, and incident response plans.

Reliance on managed services requires trust in providers—VIA partners with CSA for national systems on private Ghanaian clouds, differentiating from public or foreign options. Monitor AI “watching the watcher” frameworks to prevent misuse.

Subscription scales with size, so growing firms should plan for adjustments. Skills gaps persist; use this as a supplement, not replacement, for internal teams.

Comparison

Vs. Traditional SIEM Models

Conventional SIEM demands high CapEx and long setups. This AI cybersecurity subscription Ghana offers OpEx via monthly fees, instant deployment, and AI automation—reducing manual analysis from hours to minutes.

Vs. Competitor Offerings

Unlike public cloud SIEM reliant on foreign data centers, this is Ghana’s only fully on-premise AI-driven option for sensitive sectors. Exabeam’s behavioral analytics outperform signature-based tools, detecting subtle anomalies.

Legal Implications

This solution adheres to Ghanaian regulations, including the Data Protection Act, Cybersecurity Act, and Bank of Ghana directives. Features like data minimization, strict access controls, privacy by design/default, and local hosting ensure compliance.

Partnership with CSA secures national systems on private clouds, preventing foreign control risks. For financial institutions, it extends protection ecosystem-wide, addressing “weakest link” vulnerabilities. Non-compliance with data sovereignty could expose entities to penalties; this model mitigates that.

Users retain data ownership, with auditing and zero-trust enforcing legal standards verifiable via regulatory audits.

Conclusion

The VIA-Exabeam AI-driven cybersecurity solution marks a milestone for Ghana and Africa, democratizing advanced SIEM through affordable subscriptions. By prioritizing data sovereignty, agentic AI, and flexible models, it empowers organizations to combat escalating threats, fosters economic stability, and positions Ghana as a continental cybersecurity leader. Adopt proactively to safeguard your digital future.

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