E-Business
Experts Ring Fear as Cyber Thieves Exploit Security Lapses
Experts in IT security have warned of a possible cyber racket insurgence in Nigeria, unless controls needed to protect sensitive data and critical infrastructure from abuse by insiders are firmly installed, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek can report. The independent Oracle users’ group survey, which first revealed that attackers exploited legitimate database access through SQL injection and stolen credentials, said laxity in the industry remains since the 2011 report. The Independent Oracle Users Group had more than 300 database and information security professionals recently surveyed on their data security practices with disturbing results. 60 per cent of respondents say data breach was most likely. Hamilton Iyoha, pre-sales consultant, Oracle Corporation, Nigeria, said over one billion records have been breached from database serves over the past six years. Iyoha said at a one-day ‘Data Security and Optimisation Summit’ hosted by Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), that the figure doubles every two years. He noted that ICT revolution in Nigeria would spur latent hullabaloo and cyber crime owing to porous nature of companies’ database in the country. Iyoha said hackers usually deploy SQL injection technique to attack databases through a website usually carried out by including portions of SQL statements in a web form entry field in an attempt to get the website to pass a newly formed rogue SQL command to the database. SQL injection is a code injection technique that exploits a-security vulnerability in a website’s software. The vulnerability happens when user input is either incorrectly filtered for string literal escape characters embedded in SQL statements or user input is not strongly typed and unexpectedly executed. Thus, unprotected site oftentimes dump the database contents to the attacker. Iyoha said: “With the fast growth in data generation, demand for data security will also increase in manifold. Actually, 48 per cent of data breaches are caused by insiders, 89 per cent records stolen using SQL injections. Hackers use stolen credentials; all this call for stringent security applications. “As it is now, existing IT security is not addressing database security, because only 20 per cent of companies that participated in the survey have a kind of forecast estimate,” he noted. Iyoha said CWG/Oracle partnership has provided the society with a preventive and detective control security solution that demands authentication, access control and auditing capable of blocking threats. “About 75 percent of organizations genuinely doing business encrypt their database traffic. Another 22 per cent encrypt only their database backup files; however, Oracle Advanced Security (OAS) was produced in such a way that it protects data from unauthorized users, particularly on enterprise solution base,” said Iyoha. Peter Boglo, the senior technology pre-sales consultant, Oracle, despite huge spends on IT security by Nigeria financial institutions, and operators in the oil and gas sector, tangible results are hard to come by because of inappropriate spend. “Nigerian companies, banks, IT firms, those in oil and gas spend more money on information security management and they have not gotten maximum result. So, the Oracle database 11g is an epoch-making event that spans the full range of customers need. Information security is a prerequisite for growth, confidence building and protection of stakeholders in the digital economy,” said Boglo. He notes that the “National Identity Management Scheme requires user provisioning, role management, entitlement management, and risk based access control virtual directive. Therefore, our database must be protected to avoid the impending cyber attacks.” Christy Elendu, manager, Oracle Channels Analyst representing the country manager, said that the company spent about $4.3 billion in 2011 on research and development aimed at producing best software to tackle global security threats. “Oracle has been there since 1971 which we started with proprietary system to open and standard systems and CWG has been a worthy partner. And we are committed to hardware engineering, new opportunities for partners, better solution for customers.
National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) have announced a collaboration on National Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) to enhance synergy between digital identity, payment ecosystems and secure seamless data exchange capabilities for Nigeria.
l-r: Kashifu Inuwa, Director General of NITDA, and Bisoye Coker-Odusote, Director General of NIMC, during the meeting at the NIMC headquarters in Abuja..
NITDA, which made the announcement on its X handle, said that the collaboration was to further strengthen Nigeria’s digital economy in line with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda,
During the meeting, Kashifu Inuwa, director general of NITDA, and Bisoye Coker-Odusote, director general of NIMC, with some management staff of both organisations, discussed various initiatives, which include building DPI stacks for a secured and seamless data exchange and forming partnerships to transform the national identity system.
This collaboration also aims to harness the potential of the innovative ecosystem and emphasise the use of public-key infrastructure (PKI) to drive digital transformation in Nigeria.
To ensure a smooth implementation, a 12-man committee was set up.
This committee will play a crucial role in kickstarting and harmonising the initiatives and is expected to deliver a comprehensive implementation report within the next 4 weeks.
Noble Ajuonu, head, Sydani Technologies Ltd., has urged the Federal Government to harmonise National Identification Number (NIN) and Bank Verification Number (BVN) to tackle crimes and insecurity in the country.
Ajuonu made the call at a media roundtable, organised by Sydani Group in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the roundtable focuses on driving sustainability through a comprehensive analysis of Nigeria’s key development areas.
Ajuonu said that Nigeria could overcome its security challenges and pave the way for a safer, more secure future for all Nigerians by embracing technology and implementing practical solutions,
“We need to harmonise data, prioritise seamless integration of databases like NIN, BVN, and security agency records, establish clear protocols for data sharing and access, with robust safeguards against misuse,’’ expert said.
According to him, the unified data pool will empower intelligence gathering and targeted operations.
He also called for investments in smart surveillance, intelligent video analytics software, training of personnel in data analysis, interpretation of data in real-time to combat crimes.
“There is need to implement a legal framework for call interception in criminal investigations, with strict oversight to prevent abuse, encourage community cohesion, training of tech savvy security personnel with tech-enabled tools.’’
Ajuonu also urged the government to address infrastructure deficit in technology, saying that technology was all encompassing to address insecurity.
“According to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), as of December 2023, only 104.2 million Nigerians had been enrolled for the National Identity Number (NIN).’’
Ajuonu added that over 122.2 million citizens left uncaptured for NIN were people in rural areas where enrolment centres, digital services were limited.
“Most crimes are being perpetuated from rural communities and this lack of comprehensive identification creates a gap where elements not captured in the national database can constitute public nuisance, crimes.
“There is the inadequacy in the integration of NIN, BVN and Voters Identification Number (VIN).
“Advanced call interception and analysis tools, used successfully in other countries, could provide invaluable insights into criminal networks and operations but infrastructure is lacking,’’ he said.
Also, Mr Godfrey Petgrave, the Agricultural Expert, Sydani Group, called for empowerment of smallholder farmers with access to finance and training to enhance productivity.
According to Petgrave, Nigeria requires policy reform and institutional strengthening to improve agricultural practices and embrace digital agriculture solutions to address food insecurity.
Mr Akolade Jimoh, another expert of the group on health, advocated for expanded community-based health insurance programmes for rural and underserved areas.
Jimoh added that the country needed to encourage Public Private Partnership to revolutionise products design and quality improvement on health services.
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