E-Business
Report Says 65 Per Cent of Businesses Faced Cyberattacks in Last 12 Months
Most cybersecurity landscape data is focused on outsider attacks; however, recent findings reveal that insider threats are becoming more common.
Attacks originating from within the company are much more elusive since standard security practices do not work.
According to data analyzed by Atlas VPN, 65% of organizations suffered from one or more insider attacks in the last 12 months.
Insider threats come from employees or other internal users, such as contractors, that have access to the company’s internal databases.
There are two types of malicious insiders — those with harmful intent and those who are simply negligent.
An online survey of 457 cybersecurity professionals, conducted in June of 2020 by Darktrace, found that 41% of businesses experienced between 1 and 5 insider attacks in the last 12 months.
Moreover, 12% of respondents stated that they saw between 6-10 insider attacks in the last year — another 5% of surveyed professionals encountered from 11 to 20 attacks.
Finally, over 7% of company representatives stated that they experienced more than 20 attacks in the last 12 months.
Compared to last year, businesses dealt with insider attacks more often.
As many as 72% of cybersecurity professionals believe that employee security violations became more frequent in 2020.
Insider attacks are costly
Incidents caused by insider threats are becoming more common, so let’s look at the monetary damages caused by these events.
As a side-note, if the incident does go public, companies’ public image gets hurt, which, in the long-run, can cause even more losses than the immediate incident remediation costs.
Nearly half (49%) of surveyed leaders stated that the remediations after an insider attack cost less than $100 thousand.
Another 30% of respondents expressed that monetary damages caused by a single incident are anywhere between $100 thousand and $500 thousand.
A smaller part of the surveyed experts – 12%, stated that the average cost of remediation after an attack is somewhere between $500 thousand to $1 million.
Finally, 5% of companies reveal that the cost of an attack is around $1 million to $2 million, and 2% state that remediation costs exceed $2 million per successful attack.
One of the most recent and well-known hacking incidents caused by a malicious insider is the Twitter bitcoin scam that happened on July 15th, 2020.
Here, cybercriminals took over multiple high-profile Twitter accounts to promote a Bitcoin scam.
After the incident, Twitter reported that an employee cooperated with cybercriminals to carry out the hack.
This scam appeared in front of 37% of Twitter’s userbase. Luckily, damages only slightly exceeded $110 thousand in Bitcoin, as Twitter deleted those tweets quickly.
Protection from insider threats
Unfortunately, most security practices deployed to protect the company from external attacks fall completely flat when it comes to defending from insider threats.
Outside hackers have to find ways to break through firewalls and other security measures to get into the company’s databases.
On the other hand, many internal users already have access to those databases, so the same safety steps are not applicable.
Here are the steps to reduce security risks from insider threats:
Make sure that employees only have access to data and tools they need to do their jobs. The fewer people have access to a database, the less is the risk that either malicious or negligent employees can expose the data.
Employee training. While this might not help against disgruntled employees, it is the best tool for the company to make sure negligent insiders are educated and security risks are minimized.
All communities in Abia State are to be connected to Internet Service within the next 9 months, according to Dr. Alex Otti, state governor.
All communities in Abia State are to be connected to Internet Service within the next 9 months, according to Dr. Alex Otti, state governor.
Otti stated this at the Nnamdi Azikiwe State Secretariat premises at Umuahia, the state capital, while flagging off the first phase of the Umuahia Dedicated Internet Access/Wide Area Network And Managed Network Services Project (Project), saying that it promises to re-engineer efficiency and flexibility in operations and interactions within and amongst institutions, enhance policy execution, and engender a culture of outcome-oriented competition amongst civil servants.
The Project is being handled by iPNX, a major internet service provider.
At the ceremony, Otti, said the project includes distributing high-performance digital tools, laying fibre optic cables in public institutions, and installing infrastructure for high-speed data transmission.
He added that the initiative focuses on improving leadership efficiency, empowering civil servants with digital tools, and enhancing service delivery.
Transitioning to digital platforms would streamline government processes, enable faster communication among Ministries, departments, and Areas (MDAs), and improve engagement with development partners and the global community.
The governor also announced a mandatory digital literacy requirement for civil servants, making proficiency in technology essential for career growth.
Assuring that while the government would provide training, those unwilling to embrace technology risk becoming uncompetitive in the evolving civil service structure.
Plans are underway to expand digital access across Abia, with an agreement already in place to lay fiber optic cables in Aba, Umuahia, and Ohafia.
Otti directed Mr. Gerald Ilukwe, chief information officer to ensure that within nine months, every community in Abia must have reliable network service, enabling businesses to thrive virtually.
The Governor urged the people of Abia to embrace technology as a tool for empowerment rather than a replacement for human roles as the use of technology ought to be on enhancing service delivery and economic development, as well as keeping human decision-making at the core of governance.
The commencement of the initiative marks a major milestone in Abia’s journey towards a fully digital economy.
Ilukwe, described the project as a critical foundation for a digital government, emphasising its role in modernising service delivery.
Ilukwe said Phase I of the initiative prioritises multi-tenant buildings and complexes housing multiple MDAs and assured that MDAs not included in this phase would be covered in subsequent stages.
“Even as we are rounding off this phase, we are already preparing for the next, by the end of this service year, the entire government offices in Umuahia will be interconnected on a single network,” Ilukwe said.
Mr Ejovi Aror, group managing director, ipNX, expressed gratitude to Gov. Alex Otti for the opportunity to be part of the state’s digital transformation journey.
“This partnership signals the beginning of a new chapter in the journey towards building a digitally connected, technologically advanced, and economically empowered Abia State,” Aror said.
Visa, global payment services giant, has announced plans to establish a data centre infrastructure in Nigeria.
Andrew Torre, Visa’s regional president for central and eastern Europe and Vice-President Kashim Shettima
According to a statement by Stanley Nkwocha, senior special assistant to the president on media and communications (office of the vice-president) on Friday, Andrew Torre, Visa’s regional president for central and eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, spoke during a courtesy visit to Vice-President Kashim Shettima at the presidential villa in Abuja.
“This is in addition to its investments of over $1 billion in the country, including a substantial technological partnership with @moniepoint to foster digital payment solutions, a $200 million investment in Interswitch, and a partnership with @thriveagric to empower smallholder farmers and enhance food security in Nigeria,” the statement reads.
During the meeting, Torre said the plan to establish the data centre infrastructure aims to bring new technologies into the Nigerian market that would bolster the nation’s growing digital economy.
“Visa has been making investments and will continue to make these investments in Nigeria,” he said.
Responding, Shettima welcomed Visa’s expansion efforts, assuring the delegation that the partnership between Visa and the Nigerian government would continue to flourish.
The vice-president commended the company for investing in ThriveAgric, noting that President Bola Tinubu’s administration is deeply committed to repositioning the agriculture sector, which remains a top priority in its 8-point agenda.
“Nigeria is where the action is. Of the 10 fintechs in Africa, about eight are in Nigeria, with moniepoint as the newest addition,” Shettima said.
“Agriculture is key to the 8-point agenda of the present administration. President @officialABAT is really keen on repositioning the agriculture industry here, and we have to invest in technology, we have to invest in modernisation.”
On January 23, Moniepoint, a Nigerian fintech company, announced it secured investment from Visa to support the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Andrew Torre, Visa’s regional president for central and eastern Europe and Vice-President Kashim Shettima
Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has approved N242.8m for the procurement of a Microsoft 365 licence for its Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS) as part of efforts to digitise the service’s operations.
Mr Michael Ango, acting executive chairman of FCT-IRS, disclosed this after the FCT Executive Committee meeting chaired by Mr Nyesom Wike, the minister of FCTA, in Abuja on Wednesday.
Ango said that the FCTA was making significant investments in technology to enhance revenue generation and collection.
“So, this is also one of those investments in technology that the FCT is undertaking.
“The licence, if procured, will enhance our ability to move most of our manual processes into automated processes.
“It will enhance our ability to communicate within our offices,” he said.
The executive chairman added that the move would also reduce the use of paper and ensure better record-keeping through the storage of information and documents in the cloud.
According to him, “The licence will essentially enhance our operations and assist us in generating revenue for the development of the FCT under Wike’s leadership.”
NGO Blasts MultiChoice for Tariff Hike in Nigeria, Slash in South Africa
Tony Elumelu Foundation Grants $15m to 3,000 African Entrepreneurs
SEC Declares War on Capital Market Fraudsters
Telcos Mull Introduction of Different Tariff Plans for Different States
NESREA Urges Nigerians to Dispose Batteries Properly to Avoid Hazards
General News3 days agoNigeria, Kenya among Nations Running out of HIV Drugs – WHO
News3 days agoNAFDAC Destroys over N1 Trillion Fake Drugs in Anambra
Telecom3 days ago9mobile Denies Shutdown Rumours, Promises Improved Services
Telecom3 days agoTikTok and Truecaller Face NDPC Investigation Amid Data Protection Concerns
E-Business3 days agoVisa to Establish Data Centre in Nigeria to ‘Boost Digital Economy’
E-Financial3 days agoNigeria Still Open Crypto Business despite $80Bn Lawsuit against Binance – FG
News3 days agoBolt Shares the Spirit of Ramadan with Kano Drivers-Partners
General News2 days agoNigeria to Launch $40 Million Fund for Tech Startups