Nigerian cybercrime explodes; still no security strategy

Loss inflicted by cybercrime in Nigeria approaches half a billion dollars a year, according to prominent Nigerian newspaper Leadership.ng, which estimates the country will be completely overwhelmed by complex illicit online activities including romance scams, assisted online kidnapping and cyber bullying.

Cybercrime may have gotten completely out of hand in Nigeria following the dramatic increase predicted by Deloitte in 2016, as hacktivists started going after governments and private infrastructures, and CEO email scams, ransomware and online impersonation schemes have become more prevalent. The country still lacks a strong cyber security strategy for 2017, although in May 2015 a bill was passed to clearly define and establish penalties for cybercrime.

In 2015 alone, Nigeria, the “17^th most attacked nation in the world”, dealt with 2,175 cyberattacks on websites in the Office of the National Security Adviser, including 585 owned by the government. The number has kept going up, as 14 percent of the 97 million internet users in the country have fallen victim to cybercrime, said Isa Patanmni, director general of the Nigerian Information Technology Development Agency.

“2017 promises to be a busy year for cyber criminals in Nigeria as they up their game while Individuals, organizations and government will continue to play catch up game,” the newspaper says. “Fighting cybercrime requires a collaboration of government, law enforcement agencies, private sector and general public. With no single line of budget for cyber security by Nigeria government, lack of implementation of cyber security strategy and policy, one wonders how Nigeria plan to cope with imminent cyber-attacks in 2017.”