Disruptive technology requires disruptive security – Experts

Potential increase in cyber-attacks through phishing and email scams in Nigeria can be tackled with smart security and collaboration among players and businesses, according to experts at the 2016 Deloitte CISO Roundtable that held in Lagos recently.

Nigeria ranks among the top destinations for technological software, innovation and investments given the size of the market and a population eager to adopt the latest invention. The country is number one in the use of internet in the African continent and the fifth in the world. As a result, experts believe that it is also highly susceptible to security risks.

Despite the risks involved, businesses operating in the country have to adopt technology. It is inevitable for any enterprise that wants to survive in the digital world.

Tope Aladenusi, chief strategy officer and cyber risk services leader for Deloitte in a presentation titled ‘Security Disruptive Technologies’, said that refusing to embrace technology is a risk companies cannot afford. Nonetheless, with adoption comes exposure to cyber risks.

“If you do not embrace technology, you go out of business. But if you do, you run risks,” said Aladenusi.

He also stated that just as disruptive innovations like internet of things (IoT), block chain, ecommerce, mobile payment etc are changing the strategy of doing business and the competitive landscape, so will hackers find ways to disrupt the innovations, hence the traditional security strategies will not be enough to protect a company.

“Security today has more to do with intelligence – smart security operations. There are three levels of intelligence; foreign based intelligence, where a company is aware of the trend of cyber security globally; local intelligence which involves understanding the trend in Nigeria; and internal intelligence which is knowing how staff and leaders in the company poses risks to security,” Aladenusi said.

Often times, companies who do not plan adequately for security, depend heavily on artificial walls, changing passwords and other traditional methods, but Aladenusi believes these measures are no longer enough to ward off malicious attacks.

Apart from disruptive security measures, collaboration among companies and security professionals will go a long way. The banks for instance, can come together to educate the customers on cyber security on a regular basis. They could coordinate TV programs that focus on fraud and cybercrimes.

Tunde Coker, chief executive officer of Rack Centre noted that companies can also enhance their security by outsourcing their data centre to a provider that makes sense.

“In deciding to adopt your cloud you need to understand your data classification. You should also consider identity management. You cannot outsource your own concern for security. You need to know what your security needs are,” Coker said.

He then added that the government can strengthen cloud adoption in Nigeria by creating a clear regulatory framework around it. A lot more should also be done around privacy, which represents a major challenge for many individuals and business owners.

“The work will be progressive with regulation. There is a strong sense that technology is the way to go in the Nigerian government circles,” the Rack Centre boss said.

FRANK ELEANYA