Cyber Security: Nigeria’s internet gateway porous, expert warns

The Chief Executive Officer of FPG Technologies Limited, Mr. Rex Mafiana, has attributed the increased rate of cybercrime activities from within and outside the country to the porous nature of the country’s Internet Gateway.

He, therefore, called for urgent government intervention to curtail the excesses of online fraudsters.

Mafiana, who spoke with journalists on the porous nature of the country’s cyberspace, expressed concerns about the situation.

According to him, Nigeria has no national framework on cybersecurity, in terms of digital supremacy, despite the presence of the country’s Cybercrime Act of 2015.

“Today in the digital world, countries do no longer have physical boundaries because boundaries have become virtual. “Our online security system is porous, giving room for hackers to attack websites and key data of organisations in Nigeria. “Some of them even launched attacks from countries outside Nigeria and hide in disguise under a link that could be traced to Nigeria, thus giving the world the impression that the attacks are coming from Nigeria.

“All these are happening in our cyberspace boundary because we have a porous Internet Gateway system. The situation has made Nigerian cyberspace boarders very vulnerable and the government has to rise to the challenge.

“Organisations must also sit up to address the situation, but in Nigeria, most organisations and business owners do not pay enough attention to technology,” Mafiana said.

“Today, cybercrime has become a core business risk that should be discussed at the board level.
“There is need to sensitise business owners on cyber insecurity and advise them on the need to make the right investment in cybersecurity,” he added.

Proffering solution to cyberattacks, Mafiana said some of the best solutions to cyberattacks are about awareness creation and the need for organisations to invest in cybersecurity.

“The board members of any organisation understands the risk associated with cyberattacks, and should begin to put their houses in order and invest in the right technology that will mitigate cyberattacks and its attendant risks,” Mafiana said, adding that cybercrime was like any other crime that needs to be given the attention it deserves.

Other solutions, according to him, were the first line of defence and last line of defence in cybersecurity.

“No matter the security that is put in place, insider attack must be addressed as the first line of defence, and we have solutions to address that.

“Security awareness is also key to address cyber insecurity. The last line of defence is encryption. Organisations must learn to encrypt data, because once encrypted, it will be extremely difficult for anyone who steals such data to have unauthorised access to the data. “Perimeter security, network segmentation are other ways to address cyber insecurity in organisations,” Mafiana said.

He however said the cybercrime law of 2015 remained a step in the right direction but insisted it was not enough to address the rising rate of cybercrime in the country. He therefore called for the need to review the law and empower it to address the issues of insecurity in the cyberspace.

 

Source: ThisDay

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