Society seeks strategies to protect Nigeria’s cyberspace

The Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), has appealed to the Federal Government to develop a national cybersecurity strategy and regulatory framework to protect the country’s cyberspace.

The President of NCS, Prof. Adeshina Sodiya, said this during the three-day cyber security forum and workshop in Abuja.

He said the initiatives must be multi-stakeholders approach, including paying close attention to the construction of incident response capacities in all sectors.

“As a nation, we are not as developed in the area of cyber security like other developed countries where they meet twice a month to strategise and also update.

“Any nation that is not talking or coming up with strategies on how to protect or manage the digital infrastructure is not safe.

“Many organisations and individuals not only in Nigeria are moving their activities online, people want to be sure they are safe to transact and conduct their activities where they are not monitored,” Sodiya said.

He, however, said many Nigerians had been victims of cybercrimes, adding that cybercrimes would be on the increase when digital economy was fully implemented in the country.

Sodiya said there were three levels of cyber-attacks, “confidentiality, integrity and availability”.

He, however, said cybercrime could be committed in any part of the world not necessarily in Nigeria, adding that there was need to protect the digital infrastructure.

Sodiya said the aim of the forum was to address the current situation and proffer possible solutions on cyber security to be on the same page with other developed countries.

The Chairman, African Union Cyber security Expert Group, Mr Abdulhakeem Ajijola, said there was need for more capacity building in cyber security and improvement in the area of awareness as the common man was becoming digitalised.

“We need to improve in governance mechanism and make sure we adhere to the right kind of standards.

“We need to make sure the policies already articulated are more thoroughly implemented in the various sectors.

“Governments cannot act alone, and the participation of the technical community and the private sector as well as the civil societies are essential to building effective resilience capabilities,” he said.

Mr Kola Okunola, the Director, Intelligence Strategic Data Mining and Analysis Development of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), said youths should leverage on the positive opportunities in the cyberspace.

He said the youths could improve in their field of studies as well as engage in courses and free trainings online.

Okunola commended NCS on their efforts to come up with the forum, saying there was need to have an enabling environment for the younger generation to thrive.