As a means to enlighten individuals and businesses more on the impact of the menace of cybercrime, the senate committee on ICT and cybersecurity is set to engage the services of Datasixth, a cybersecurity organisation, on capacity training and sensitization.
The committee made this known during a visit to Datasixth in Lagos on Thursday, 17, March, 2022.
According to the committee, more sensitization has become crucial in clipping the growing influence of cybercrimes in Nigeria.
Senator Ibrahim Hadejia, member of the committee, while speaking on behalf of the team disclosed that security, vulnerability, among others, remains one of the biggest challenges in the IT world today and companies like Datasix are coming up to solve these problems especially in the financial sector, banks, fintech, oil and gas, including other companies that are targeted by hackers.
“it has also been discovered that cyber crooks too are not relenting, launching various attacks, from ransomware today, to malware tomorrow, and Trojan on another day. So, in tackling this menace, it is best to leave it to the professionals, who are dedicated to being a step above those hackers and cybercriminals,” Hadeja said.
He noted that since the advent of the present government, there has been a lot of transition to the digital economy and it cannot exist without digitised government services.
“Now, if you are going to digitise government services, the first thing that people would be scared of is vulnerability. Just like you have in the private sector, the same criminals would operate in that space in the public sector. So, we are talking to companies like Datasixth to come in and see how they can help the government plan initial infrastructure to make it fool proof and secure as possible,” He said.
He revealed that government’s plan to move 85 per cent of its businesses online by 2023, and disclosed that security should be at the centre, which can only be achieved by engaging companies like Datasixth to see how they can come in and collaborate with government agencies like GalaxyBackbone, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to achieve a secured infrastructure.
The senator explained that Datasixth will help in the areas of capacity building, stressing that when talking about eGovernance people who are capable of delivering in that field are needed as digitisation is a very big leap from paper to digital services.
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However, he stated that despite the restriction that may accompany the process, Datasixth needs to come in, train the service providers and ensure seamless exercise.
He expressed worry that the gains the nation has made in the ICT revolution were being dampened by the rapid evolution of the cybersecurity threat landscape, with a dramatic rise in cybercrime.
Michael Nathan, CEO Datasixth urged the Federal Government to provide cybersecurity that would contribute positive digital transformative changes in projecting the country as one of the pioneers and sponsors of cyber resilience.
“Cybercrime has already emerged as a very concrete threat, not only in Nigeria but the globe at large. Technology innovation often means a wider surface area for attack. Given that cyberattacks are here to stay and officially becoming ‘the fastest growing crime in the world,” Nathan said.
According to him, human factor remains the single most important part of fighting cybercrime, given that 90 per cent of incidents are occurring due to human behaviour, and public sector leaders can start to swing the balance back in their favour
Other members of the committee include the Technical Assistant, Senate Committee on ICT and Cybercrime, Patrick Essien; Committee Technical Manager, Senator Orker Jeff; Committee Chairman on ICT and Cybercrime, Senator Yakubu Oseni; Senate Clerk on ICT and Cybercrime, Ayoh Ogon.
