Technology is Major Challenge for Cybercrime Investigators – Akindeinde

Oluseyi Akindeinde, chief technical officer, Digital Encode and manager, Centre for Information Security Intelligence, is well grounded in IT security and Connectivity space of Information Technology.
Akindeinde plays a leading role in assisting some banks to acquire PCI DSS certification as required by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and is offering training to Banks on securing their networks against hackers.
He spoke to chike onwuegbuchi on issues around cybersecurity.

Threat of Cybercrime to the Country
Cyberspace is a place of innovation and opportunity, and full of good people.  But it is also a place of risk and danger, where bad actors take advantage of security weaknesses to cause harm.  Cyberspace is vulnerable to an ever-evolving range of threats, from criminals to nation-state actors, ranging in purpose from identity and data theft to espionage and disruption of critical functions.
 As our nation’s reliance on cyber networks has grown, incidents which impact the safety and confidence with which we operate online have become increasingly commonplace
Cybercrime is on the increase. The number of incidents of cybercrime has been increasing in recent years even though there have been a number of concerted efforts by industry stakeholders to raise awareness of the problem.
We need to understand that cybercrime is very lucrative and is a relatively easy way for criminals to make money.
 The tools, techniques and services to perpetrate crimes can easily be found or purchased through the Internet, while mobile technology and the trend towards outsourcing and sharing data potentially heightens exposure

Nigeria’s Effort in Tackling Cybercrime
At the moment, a lot more needs to be done to curb the menace of cybercrime in Nigeria. The legal system is neither adequate nor sufficient to prosecute offenders in the areas of electronic communications and transaction in Nigeria.
 Whilst the Evidence Act appears to support the admissibility of computer-generated evidence in court, enforcement still remains a major problem because of the various conditions attached.
Another challenge facing cybercrime investigators is that the evolution of technology is dynamic and at the introduction of new technologies, the fraudsters devote time and resources to detecting the inherent vulnerabilities. The cyber criminals are well organized and vast in the use of technology. They are well ahead of the crime investigation agencies in Nigeria.

Impact of Cyber Security Law When Signed
The Cybersecurity Act proposes to create a set of government-imposed, top-down regulations to combat cybersecurity threats. It further recognizes that it is a major offense. When someone steals physical cash the person gets prosecuted.
It should be the same for anything electronic because most transactions these days are electronic.
Secondly, it impacts the principal tension in cybersecurity – which involves computers, networks and data and is between the need to protect citizens, property and infrastructure and the need to respect legal, civil and property rights.

Level of Preparedness of Banks to Put hackers in Check
There are different types of cybersecurity threats, each of which target different parts of a financial institution’s information technology infrastructure and each with its own goal. Broadly, they can be divided into three categories:
◾Theft/fraud, where the motive is profit.
◾Espionage/exposure, where the motive is to acquire private or protected information.
◾Disruption/destruction, where the motive is to cause harm or loss through an attack designed to slow, disable or destroy critical systems and operations.
Each of the categories represents different objectives and motivations for attack, and most banks have put in place solutions that can appropriately address the threat and therefore combat it effectively. In it’s efforts to promote compliance, the CBN has mandated the banks and all financial institutions to comply with all international information security standards from the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) to the ISO 27001 Information Security Management System (ISMS)

Challenges in Fighting Hackers
One major challenge is capacity building. The cyber security landscape is an ever changing one and defenders need to be well informed to combat sophisticated cybercrimes.
To reduce the rate of cybercrime in Nigeria, therefore, adequate training of those who run and manage the investigation incident response departments of the various financial institutions is a must.
In the move to a cash-less economy, regulatory agencies and lawmakers should equally as a matter of urgency, collaborate to pass a Cybercrime law in order to protect consumers in the cash-less scheme.
All financial institutions should, as a matter of urgency, build and equip digital forensics and incident response units.

Computer Emergence Response Team (Cert) in the Fight Against Cybercrimes
A CERT is very important to a nation like ours. CERTs, law enforcement, users, and security organisations all play a role in fighting cybercrime.
Whilst law enforcement is pretty much involved in prevention and prosecution of crime, A CERT is responsible for coordinating services in the event of a security breach and to help affected organizations recover from a breach.
Organizations often go to their CERT first in the event of a breach for fear of the legal ramifications and public embarrassment of a breach.
If law enforcement isn’t being informed about security breaches and impacts, they don’t get any intelligence on what’s going on, and that intelligence could be used to prosecute.

About Digital Encode
Digital Encode is a leading consulting and integration firm founded in 2003 that specializes in the design, management, and security of business-critical networks, telecommunications environments and other Information Technology (IT) infrastructures, recognized in the industry for its vendor independent perspective, the firm’s expertise lies in solving multifaceted, complex enterprise network security, and audit problems.

Protecting Networks against Hacker
It isn’t so much about what to or what not to put in place. There needs to be a top-down approach to cyber security.
 Processes and procedures need to be instituted to complement the various technologies that are already in place.
To this end organisations should consider and adopt the ISO 27001 ISMS as a framework to safeguard customer data.