By Funmilola Gboteku
The Head of Governance, Risk and Compliance at Seven Up Plc, Mr. Oluwasolape Akinde, has said that collaboration and partnerships will strengthen cybersecurity in African digital economies.
Akinde made the remark during the grand finale of the Secure Hack 1.0 event powered by Eko Innovation Centre, in Lagos.
He said collaboration allowed sharing of information and expertise, pooling of resources, and coordination of efforts to address common cybersecurity challenges. Akinde also noted that the country needed policies and regulations that establish cyber security standards and provide guidance on best practices.
He said that cyber threats had doubled as a result of skill gap, infrastructural challenges, lack of awareness, political instability, and limited regulatory framework.
Akinde noted that on a daily basis several organisation were attacked by cyber criminals due to lack of awareness.
- “Addressing these challenges requires a multifaceted approach. We need to increase investment in cybersecurity infrastructures. We need to develop talents in the cyber space and also develop regulatory frameworks to enforce cyber security standards.
- “Organisations also need to share information on best practices to tackle the issues of cyber threats,” he said.
He said developing comprehensive cyber security strategies and conducting regular security assessment would also reduce cyber attacks.
Akinde explained that it was also essential to educate employees, especially those at the end of the ladder, like cleaners, on the importance of cyber security. He added that organisations should also implement strong access controls and regularly update softwares.
- “Individuals also need to secure their personal information by simply putting passwords on their sim cards, so that cyber criminals will not hack into their phones,” Akinde said.
Similarly, Imeh Udofia, Chief Security Officer at Leadway Assurance Company Ltd., said that it was high time employers of labour started seeing cyber attacks as an emerging threat. He said organisations and government should bring in professionals that were specialised in cyber security and physical security to tackle cyber threats.
Udofia also noted that some of the hackers in most organisations were insiders, adding that it was necessary for companies to put the welfare of their employees in the front burner to avoid such situations.
He added that pre-approval was another important factor organisations should consider, noting that it would require approval before staff members could print out sensitive information.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some of the teams that participated at the event were Cyber Hive Pitch Desk, a platform that offers cyber security education; Health Waka, a platform that provides seamless tracing and tracking of sick people; Team 9 and Team 18, among others.
After the pitching of ideas, team Health Waka was declared the winner of the N2 million pool prize by a group of jurors.
Some of the jurors were Dr Obadare Peter Adewale, Co-founder, Digital Encode Ltd., Ayodele Olojede, Group Head of Emerging Businesses Africa, Access Bank, and David Ali, Chief Information, Security Officer, Airtel, among others.
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