Porous online culture in Nigeria has become a source of worry to stakeholders in the Nigeria’s Information and Communications Technology sector.
Gathered at the Signal Alliance IT Security Roundtable in Lagos, the stakeholders advocated for a national consciousness that will ensure Nigerian businesses, institutions and individuals going online enjoy the great benefits of a truly online nation.
At the meeting, which was sponsored by Cisco, as part of the Signal Alliance 2016 Customer Week activities, Chief Executive Officer, Signal Alliance, Adanma Onuegbu, said while Nigeria is racing to bridge the broadband divide and move its citizens online, there are challenges individuals, companies and governments face as they move online.
Onuegbu stressed that as Nigerians take the advantage online presents, “there is urgent need to ensure that as a nation, Nigerians protect themselves in order not to become vulnerable to online predators.
“There is need to ensure that Nigeria online is safer than the current state of our national security”, she stated.
She disclosed that in the last five years, Nigeria online presence has increased tremendously. “People, businesses and government institutions have moved online, with great benefits to individuals, companies and even government. For those that have moved most of their operations online the benefits have been immense. There is increase in communication, collaboration, financial inclusion and poverty reduction. But there are dangers. Fraud, data sovereignty, critical data loss, identify theft and privacy are issues that needs urgent attention.”
According to Signal Alliance Chief Technology Officer, Yinka Ntia, there are security challenges, which include; lack of re-orientation to the risks and threats of going online, lack of responsibility of personal digital footprint, lack of general awareness on best security practices, “businesses still do not see security as a business process, but rather see it as an organizational unit’s responsibility, and the public sector still sees manual processes as more secure and are averse to going online.”
According to him, there is need for more sensitization and education about proper conduct for online transactions, “so as not to fall prey to the hands of the predators.”
The forum reiterated the need to create more awareness among individuals on security issues, and they should be taught to take more personal responsibilities as it relates to cyber security.
“The CIOs and CSOs in corporate organizations should collaborate more on security issues by sharing information; they should also have a corporate security framework, and at the board level security should be given top priority.
“There was advocacy for a national Cybersecurity awareness, the strengthening of data privacy law, and the need to address the dearth of adequate capacity in the IT security profession”, the forum stressed.
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