With terrorism now a major threat in the world and a present problem in Nigeria, cyber threat awareness and know-how in management of intelligence and communication infrastructure have become necessary. A top-to-bottom review of our national security network must start now. If the Symantec 2012 Report is to serve as a guide, nations should be on red alert because of the increasing incidents of malicious attacks by hackers which have risen to an all-time high of 81 percent, spreading to organisations of all sizes and a variety of personnel and data breaches.
We urge our intelligence agencies to increase their knowledge in this field because of the level of damage that well-trained cyber-ruffians can do to the economy and security of any nation. Only recently, Internet hackers briefly infiltrated a stock market in the United States (US) and faked a news tweet about an attack on the White House. At present, the US government is involved in a face-off with the Chinese government over a reported attempt by a China-based cyber unit to infiltrate the Pentagon. This shows how much damage can be done by disinformation spread by hacking into nations’ cyber systems. Mandiant, a renowned global security outfit, reports that hackers are behind scores of thefts of intellectual property and government documents over the past five years. Nigerian government has been a victim of Wikileaks through thefts of sensitive government documents and discussions.
Beyond that, it cannot be denied that our youths have taken undue advantage of the Internet to get involved in cyber crime, using it to commit fraud and threaten public security. Targets of cyber criminals include both big and small organisations. A recent research by Symantec indicates that organisations are targetted either because they are in the supply chain or they are less well defended. The fear is that with increasing patronage of the Internet as the information super-highway and the ever-increasing availability of smart phone devices, the global cyber threat will equally be on the rise.
Since cyberspace has become an integral part of daily life for governments, organisations and individuals, it has become imperative that we secure our broadband network and Internet infrastructure if we are to grow our economy and protect individual and national security. One sure way to do this is to regularly improve our cyber resilience by hardening our digital infrastructure to be resistant to penetration and disruption by agile cyber hackers. Much work needs to be done in re-orientating our citizens, especially the youths, who are always looking for shortcuts to wealth.
The relevant agencies, including the Police, the Civil Defence Corps and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should double their efforts and punish cyber criminals to deter our citizens from illegal activities on the Internet. Adequate training and re-training of those who man the forensic departments of the various security agencies should be given prime attention.
