Following the pandemic that pivoted more businesses online, Nigeria is experiencing unprecedented cyber-attacks on commercial and individual platforms in 2021.
Africa’s leading economies have been the main targets for the prevailing cybercrime blitzkriegs. Global cybersecurity and digital privacy company, Kaspersky, reports that leading countries in Africa, including Nigeria, have experienced 85 million malware attacks in just six months.
The data showed that South Africa, the most targeted had 32 million attacks, followed by Kenya with 28.3 million, Nigeria with 16.7 million cyber-attacks, while Ethiopia had 8 million attacks.
However, Nigeria and Ethiopia have had the highest increase of cyber-attacks on the continent compared to the pre-covid year. Nigeria, Ethiopia, and South Africa recorded an increase of 23 per cent, 20 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively, with Kenya being the only country that saw a decrease of 13 per cent.
Nigeria seems to be the most hit. Yet, experts see more attacks on businesses as the migration towards Internet-of-Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence, and cloud computing continues to grow while exposing them to cyber-attacks risks.
This data should spur responsible, conscious, and forward-thinking corporate and large businesses heavily exposed to e-commerce to adopt strategies for mitigating these risks. However, small businesses are not left off the ugly trend. Recent findings show that enterprises with less than 200 employees lose an average of $2.5 million each due to cyber threats. Nigerian SMEs inclusive. Sophos Group believes that 86% of Nigerian companies fell prey to cyberattacks last year.
Read also: Lekki is now hotbed of cybercrime in Nigeria EFCC
This edition of the “Insuring Happiness” article series highlights four (4) ways every business owner can detect and mitigate cyber risks despite the growing data.
1. Beware of mysterious email activity
Email phishing is one of the primary ways attackers gain access to sensitive business information by pretending to be a trusted organisation or website. These attempts have been growing in number, making it essential for employees to practice safe email protocol and be careful not to click on online links, open emails, or attachments from unknown sources. It is also advisable to create a culture where all employees refrain from responding or engaging in emails with anonymous sources.
2. Note unusual password reset request
This tactic is another devious way cybercriminals deploy to gain access to the company’s secure portal. An employee who receives an email requesting a password change or update should immediately report the event to the IT unit. A good security best practice is to ensure that all employees create a strong password for their email.
3. Report a slower-than-normal network
This kind of episode might seem normal in this part of our world, where strong connectivity is not the usual. However, this could also be a hacking attempt or malware attack. These attempts often result in spikes in network traffic that can reduce internet speed. To mitigate this, inform the IT security department to be on the watch during such situations. Also, inform the internet service provider to ensure the team is on the alert.
4. Prepare for the worst-case scenario
Despite all these high-alert detection strategies and information to employees, the unplanned can still happen, making it more critical to have a cyber insurance policy that your organisation can fall back on should such an event occur. One of the deliberate actions is to prioritise cyber threat insurance on top of your risk mitigation plan against cyber-attacks.
Knowing that cyber-attacks are significant threats to business, whether MSMEs or multinationals, Leadway Assurance, Nigeria’s foremost insurer with over five decades of operations and a reputation as Nigeria’s most capitalised insurer, has a Cyber-risks insurance policy for this purpose. The policy, designed by a team vastly experienced in cyber-security breaches, helps prevent further financial loss in the event of an incidence.
With Leadway’s Cyber-risk insurance policy, organisations can mitigate risk exposure by offsetting costs incurred in the recovery process after a cyber-related security breach. The policy’s first-party coverage and third-party liability risk coverage assure an organisation of the needed financial support should they become victims of these growing cybercrimes.
Want to know more about this policy? Please visit www.leadway.com or call the Leadway Assurance customer care helpline on 01-2800-700. You can also send an email to [email protected] for professional advisory or request a call back by visiting www.leadway.com/call-me
We are within your reach on our social media outlets – @LeadwayAssurance on Facebook & Instagram, @Leadwayinsure on Twitter. You can send a DM, and we would revert with all the information you require
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