Experts Seek Greater Awareness on Cyber Crime

The result of a Cyber Game Simulation developed by KPMG Nigeria and played at the company’s 2017 Cyber Security Conference held in Lagos recently has revealed that companies who want to combat cybercrime in the modern world must invest in information security awareness for its employees and users.

The game took the audience through a series of cybercrime scenarios and prompted them to make decisions at every level. It involved a fictional financial institution, Castel Bank, which had its database compromised after an employee clicked on a malware document attached to an e-mail.

With the exponential growth of connected smart devices across the world, cybercrime has become a major risk factor for individuals, businesses and governments.

The ICT Secretary at Kenya’s Ministry of Information Communication and Technology, Dr. Kate Getao, who delivered the keynote address, noted that, with the advent of the internet, automated vehicles and medical robots, cyber security must become a priority for governments and big businesses across the world.

“We need a system as complex as the transport or healthcare system to deal with challenges of cyber security,” she said.

The CEO of SMSAM Systems, Sunday Samuel, noted that “while we do not have comprehensive laws for cybercrime in Nigeria, organisations must strive to match technology with intelligence. The place of intelligence cannot be overemphasised,” he said.

He added: “Every organisation that wants to build a resilient cyber security system must have the concept of PDR (Prevention, Detection and Response). This makes it very difficult for the bad guys to come in.”