Information and Communications Technology (ICT) experts have warned that Nigeria and other nations are at the risk of losing $7 trillion yearly to cyber threats if nothing is done to protect the increasingly risk-prone global cyberspace.
As a risk-averting measure, Nigeria’s cyber-security experts and stakeholders in the financial service sector have charged the Nigerian government to initiate and implement an efficient cyber-security infrastructure that will guarantee adequate protection for governments, organisations, and individuals against likely cyber threats and attacks.
Speaking at a cyber-security forum in Lagos with the theme ‘CybertechNX Business launch and Cyber Capability Expose’, a Professor of Information Technology/Security, University of Arizona Global Campus, United States, Austine Ohwobete, noted that though Nigeria had what could be termed a cyber-security plan, the plan was still fraught with some flaws and lacking in implementation timelines and milestones
Ohwobete, who is also the Managing Director, Cyber Technologies Next Generation Company Limited (CybertechNX), made these observations after unveiling his cyber-security products and services to the Committee of Chief Information Security Officers of the Nigerian Financial Institutions (CCISONFI) in Lagos.
The ICT expert said: “We need a national cyber-security policy and strategy that is functioning and not one that you spend money to just write on paper and let it be. Nobody hears about it. There is no organisation; no implementation environment that has been set up for its actualisation. But that is needed.
“A national cyber-security initiative will go a long way in making sure that there are frameworks and blueprints that people will need to adhere to keep their environment safe
“At this point, I think that there is a cyber-security strategy at the national level but there are a lot of holes and gaps in it and also there is a problem of implementation. For example, what is the implementation plan and what are the milestones. For now, it remains an initiative that is yet to get to the level of implementation. So, we need to do that because it is critical”, he added.
Ohwobete, who is also the Chief Executive Officer and cyber-strategist, Crypto Forensics Technologies, California, United States, introduced himself as a cyber-evangelist who would do his best for the country’s cyber environment.
He elaborated: “So, starting from this point of stepping my foot into the (Nigerian) cyber security environment, I am going to start evangelising and talking to the government and identifying risk areas that governments and organisations need to look into.
“My responsibility, as a citizen, is to help identify gaps that need to be closed and internationally recognised practices and frameworks that are lacking within the Nigerian environment that are needed to be implemented.
The tone set at the top and the infrastructure level will determine to what extent organisations at the lower level of the eco-chain will take to make sure that they follow what is being done. So, organisations are responsible for securing their own neck of the wood. But the Federal Government needs to come up with cyber policies and cyber initiatives that will set the standard that organisations need to follow. That is what I think that will be done”, Ohwobete added.
Similarly, President of the Information Security Society of Africa (ISSAN) and Group Head, Operations and Technology, Ecobank Nigeria Plc, Mr.David Isiavwe, also aligned his views with the earlier speaker’s position on cyber-security threats, stressing that evolving and sustaining premium cyber-security is very important because of the huge financial loss estimated at over $7 trillion being stolen worldwide in the cyberspace.
The ISSAN leader, therefore, maintained that it had become imperative for the Federal Government to evolve strengthened cyber-security system because of the growing digitalisation of the country’s economic and social activities.
According to him, this implies the threat landscape has just expanded significantly across the national and international borders.
In his presentation, Chairman, CCISONFI, Mr. Abumere Igboa, also stressed the need to tackle the related challenges of ensuring continuous cyber-security and data privacy through a strong national cyber-security infrastructure.
He identified lack of proper identity management framework as compelling financial institutions in the country to rely on other means for identity information such as BVN, adding that it is only through collaborative efforts by all stakeholders and governments in the country that cyber security breaches can be mitigated.
