Prof. Sanjay Misra of the Covenant University, Ota, in Ogun, said on Wednesday that cyber attacks will continue to grow, and only the informed and the prepared will be able to weather the storm.
Misra, a professor of Computer Engineering, spoke at the 2017 Cyber Security Challenge Nigeria (CYSEC NG) in Lagos.
He discussed the topic: ”The State of Cyber security in Nigeria: The Role of Cyber Protection Team”
“Cyber crime is not a technology problem that can be solved; it is a risk to be managed. To manage that risk, there is need to have a cyber protection team,” he said.
The professor said it was important to have a Cyber Protection Team team that would help to curtail cyber crime in the country.
According to him, rapid development in Information Communication and Technology (ICT) with good collaboration among stakeholders, would be of great impact in addressing the issue.
He said that prevention, detection, defence and response were key to handling the cyber security challenges that the country was facing.
Misra listed some of the roles of the cyber protection team to include the investigation and fishing out of cyber criminals, and helping to identify vulnerabilities of potential targets, especially financial institutions and government agencies.
The don said the cyber protection team would also inspect, advise and assist computer users and agencies on ways by which cyber crimes could be minimised.
He said that key players in the team should include individuals, cyber security experts, computer forensic professionals, academics, researchers and regulatory bodies and agencies.
“Government needs to have the will power to fight cyber crime because there are things in place like the Google map that can be used to trace people and their activities,” he said.
Misra said that the Cyber Crime Act 2015, which was signed into law was good but needed to be well-implemented to have the required impact.
He said that there was need to outsource the task of Information security to specialised companies and experts, rather than investing heavily in cyber intelligence centre.
The university teacher said as a way forward, there was the need to report threats immediately to the National Computer Emergency Response Team and other regulatory bodies and put in place a cyber insurance.
He said there was a need to develop a new analysis and threat intelligence technique which could proactively disrupt future cyber threats, to ensure cyber security.