National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has identified outdated frameworks, inadequate expertise, and low awareness as major barriers to effective cybersecurity interventions in Nigeria.

Dr Ayodele Bakare, deputy director, Cybersecurity Department, NITDA, made this known on Friday during a meeting with a delegation from the United Kingdom (UK) in Abuja.

The discussion focused on building a national cybersecurity infrastructure.

Bakare highlighted that cybersecurity is a borderless issue, requiring both local and international collaboration as well as strategic interventions to address emerging threats.

He noted that while Nigeria has existing cybersecurity frameworks and policies, their effectiveness in tackling evolving threats—particularly those driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI)—remains questionable.

Some of the key frameworks he mentioned include the Cybercrime Act 2015, which was recently amended in 2024, and the Nigerian Data Protection Act 2023, both of which play a crucial role in shaping the country’s cybersecurity landscape.

“NITDA, seven years ago, released the National Public Key Infrastructure as a regulation. We also have other sectoral frameworks, such as the Risk-Based Cybersecurity Framework for financial institutions released by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“Given the fact that we have all these frameworks, their effectiveness is still a question, and I think the first thing is for a rebase line on the basis that informs the existing frameworks.

“The majority of the frameworks were issued far before now, and there are emerging risks like AI-driven threats, and some of the frameworks that we have are not really addressing them,” he said.

Bakare also pointed out that despite ongoing public awareness efforts, cyber threats such as device code phishing remain widespread.

He shared a personal experience of nearly falling victim to such an attack, emphasising that many Nigerians are still unaware of modern cyber threats.

He called for enhanced, interactive awareness campaigns to better educate the public on cyber risks.

In addition, Bakare highlighted Nigeria’s shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals, stating that the country has only about 8,300 cybersecurity experts for a population of 220 million. He stressed the urgent need to develop skills in the sector.

“We are looking for platforms that can provide an efficient way of training people, and we are also looking at collaborations that can help bring down the cost of cybersecurity certification courses.

“Averagely, you see Nigerians spending between 2,000 dollars to 5,000 dollars for this certification, which is very expensive, and reducing the cost will increase the number of experts,” he said.

Bakare also raised concerns about governance, risk management, and compliance among government institutions, revealing that NITDA is working on an audit regime to ensure adherence to cybersecurity frameworks.

He further noted the need for more efficient threat intelligence platforms that can gather, analyse, and share information on cybersecurity threats.

According to him, adopting cloud-based solutions could help institutions identify and mitigate external threats more effectively.

“The government is making efforts to ensure the management and effective utilisation of the National Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) to secure online transactions and communications in collaboration with stakeholders.

“For government institutions, we are working on a framework for Zero Trust, which should create an efficient platform.

“The platform will ensure that before you access any information-based system, either cloud-based or on-premise, you have to go through a Zero Trust platform.

“This is to ensure that digital trust is effectively maintained and that the incidences of data leakages are reduced,” Bakare said.

He added that NITDA is developing a National Cybersecurity Architecture that will consolidate various cybersecurity initiatives and frameworks into a single, unified strategy.

“We are working towards an architecture that will serve as the single source of truth for Nigeria’s National Cybersecurity Strategy and help streamline efforts for effective management of cyberspace,” he said.

Microsoft is advancing its artificial intelligence (AI) strategy by developing its own AI reasoning models to compete with OpenAI, according to a report by The Information.

This move is aimed at diversifying Microsoft’s AI offerings and reducing its reliance on OpenAI’s technology.

As part of this initiative, Microsoft has begun testing models from xAI, Meta, and DeepSeek as potential alternatives to OpenAI’s technology within its Copilot product.

This shift aligns with a growing industry trend toward cost-effective AI model development using “distillation” techniques.

Distillation involves training smaller AI models using insights from larger, more complex models, significantly lowering computational costs.

Companies such as DeepSeek have leveraged this method to develop powerful AI solutions at a fraction of traditional expenses.

Currently, Microsoft’s Copilot, an AI-powered chatbot integrated into Microsoft 365 and Windows 11, runs on OpenAI’s GPT-4 model.

By investing in the development of its own AI models, Microsoft aims to enhance Copilot’s capabilities while offering more tailored AI solutions to its users.

This strategic shift is expected to strengthen Microsoft’s position in the competitive AI market while providing greater control over its AI ecosystem.

Nigerian website owners have been warned to be weary of security vulnerabilities in the Jupiter X Core plugin for WordPress.

The warning was handed over by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), via its official X account.

According to the agency, the vulnerability, identified as CVE-2025-0366, poses a significant cybersecurity risk, potentially allowing attackers to take control of affected websites without authentication.

A security advisory from the Computer Emergency Readiness and Response Team Nigeria (CERNT.NG) noted that the flaw is an “unauthenticated privilege escalation vulnerability,” meaning attackers can gain administrative access or execute arbitrary code on websites using this plugin.

“A critical security flaw has been discovered in the Jupiter X Core plugin for WordPress, affecting websites using this popular theme framework,” the statement said.