Information and Communications Technology experts have blamed the rising online fraud in the country on hoisting of websites by government and private organizations in domains outside the country’s top level domain (CTLD) .ng and absence of absence of standardization and certification scheme for official communications by government officials.
They observed that, though, IT infrastructures have their own vulnerabilities which open new vistas for criminal tendencies as well as increasing reliance of critical infrastructures on IT, solutions needed to be proffered in order to reduce the associated risk of cyber crime and criminality.
Activities of cyber criminals, according to them, affects the national image of the country in a very serious and negative fashion leading to her being labeled in the comity of nations as a criminal nation until the current efforts by the EFCC and other agencies established by government to fight crime and criminality.
These were the views of the industry players who spoke at the just concluded 1st National Conference on Cybercrime and Cybersecurity organized by Global Network Cybercrime Solution in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Justice, National Information Technology Development Agency (Nitda) and Indian-Ghana Kofi Annan Centre for Excellence in ICT, Accra, Ghana.
Dr. Alhassan Bako Zaku, Minister of State, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, in his paper title "National Digital Security: Engaging the Challenges of Digital Criminality and the Future of Nigeria – The Role of Federal Government", admitted that cyber criminals have indeed exploited the anonymity and global reach of the internet to launch series of attacks and threats, but harmful as well as illegal content on the internet and even perform reconnaissance for physical attack and other forms of crime.
He reiterated his ministry’s commitment to continue to partner with organized private sector on initiatives aimed at fighting cyber crime as well as boosting the image of the country with a view to attesting to the government readiness to play its role as the catalyst of development in the ICT sector.
Earlier, in his welcome address, Dr. Chris Uwaje, president, Global Network Cybersolutions, assured that his organization will continue to champion and lead the national cyber security crusade with an unparalleled passion.
Uwaje said it has become imperative for the sector to evolve conscious commitment to political will to declare cyber crime and cyber security as national emergency, noting that provision and allocation of commensurate resources to build the critical mass of required infrastructure and manpower, especially in core IT forensic technology, remains the key imperatives to leapfrog Nigeria unto the comity of first class nations of the 21st century.
In his remarks, Prof. Raymond Akwule, profession of ICT, George Mason University, Virginia, USA, said a concerted effort to spread the awareness of cyber crime and security as challenge under the current dispensation is sacrosanct.
He recalled that in the last 10 years, the nation have witnessed increasing rate of crimes on the internet, especially in the areas of buying and selling of pirated goods, identity theft, intellectual property thefts, bank frauds, hacking, cyber terrorism, among others.
Ms. Dorothy Gordon, representative of India-Ghana Kofi Annan Centre for Excellence in ICT, noted that the level of ICT revolution in Africa and what is envisaged for the near future will effectively inform the change in direction as far as the pace of cyber crime is concerned.
