Leadership

Desmond Israel is a data protection and cybersecurity consultant with over 15 years of experience in the field of enterprise cyber/information security projects before his call to the Ghana Bar as a Lawyer. He is the Founder & Lead Consultant at Information Security Architects Ltd and leads major enterprise-level projects for cybersecurity maturity assessments, privacy program development, and various risk impact assessments for some Tier-1 banks in Ghana.

He is a lawyer with Nsiah Akuetteh & Co’ and has an interest in cyber and information technology, data protection, intellectual property rights, civil claims in Tort, company and commercial practice. He currently provides external legal services which include regulatory compliance for technology start-up organizations including Financial Technology (Fintech) firms in Ghana, Nigeria and Liberia. Finally, he is the resident consultant as Risk, Compliance and Anti-Money Laundering Lead for Halges Financial Technologies Limited (Korba) and Finance Mobile Limited.

Desmond is an adjunct lecturer on IT Contracts & Service Level Agreements with the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) and was a non-key expert on the Legislative Drafting Team for the Malawian e-Government Bill 2021 and an expert contributor to the ICT curriculum development for the training of the Girl child through the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Unit of the Programme for Sustainable Economic Development (PSED), a project of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

He holds an LLB (Hons) from Mouncrest University College, BSc. (Hons) in Management with Computing from Regent University College of Science & Technology, Qualifying Certificate for Law Practice from Ghana School of Law, Advanced Diploma in Information Technology (Graduate of School of Management, London – UK), edX Verified Certificate for Cyberwar, Surveillance and Security (University of Adelaide, Australia) and has various industry certifications including CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP) OneTrust Privacy Professional and QualysGuard Certified Specialist Vulnerability Management (QCS(VM)).

He is the immediate past Co-Chair of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) KnowledgeNet Ghana Chapter, a Member of the Council of Mountcrest University College, Board Secretary and a technical volunteer with the Africa Digital Rights’ Hub (ADRH).

He is a member of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) and the Cybersecurity Initiative Forum (CSIF, USA). He was nominated as part of the Top50 Individuals Leading in Legal Innovations in Africa Legal Innovations Award 2020, MTN Ghana Cyber Hero 2020 and Africa Cybersecurity Influencer 2019 by Cyber In Africa Magazine.