Cybersecurity expert warns against more advanced crimes online

A Cybersecurity expert, Ms Iretioluwa Akerele, on Wednesday said that the world was moving away from physical crimes to more advanced crimes on the internet.

Akerele, the Enterprise Security Manager at Cyber Security Clearing System (CSCS), made the disclosure at the Cyber Security Meet-up held in Lagos.

The Meet-up was organised by the Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria (CSEAN), in line with the Cybersecurity awareness month.

She spoke on the theme: “’Mastering the Art to Stop, Think and Connect in the World of Cyber Wolves’’.

According to her, with the emergence of technology, criminals now look for more sophisticated ways of duping people and this is mostly done online.

Akerele said that according to Microsoft in 2017, it is estimated that the economic loss of cybercrime by 2020, will be 3 trillion dollars.

“By 2020 also, 25 billion devices will be connected to the internet and this portend more risk on the internet because these connections will be mostly through the mobile phones.

“The mobile phone is a means of attack for web criminals and this is due to the fact that people have enough information on their phones.

“The public should imbibe the Stop, Think and Connect measures to safeguard themselves from these attacks,’’ she said.

Akerele said that stop had to do with understanding what we want to embark upon; think had to do with considering the outcome of our actions; considering safety and connect was enjoying the internet or system with greater confidence.

She urged the public to ensure that they are not adding to the number of people attacked.

Akerele said that to ensure information security, confidentiality, integrity and availability of information should be adopted by an individual or an organisation.

She noted that web attackers sought for personal information, customer records, intellectual property, contractual records, operational procedures and others.

The cybersecurity expert urged the public to adopt best practices while operating on online such as: educating oneself, to watch information one shares on social media and verifying connection before using.

Akerele listed others as: determine what assets are most valued to criminals; keep software updated; trusting ones gut; install good access control mechanism; destroying important document before disposing and password implementation.

“The most important thing is for people to know that these things are real and it is near us and so the need to create constant awareness for the public.

“People should ensure that they are not the weak link in an organisation of family and also come forward when attacked so that solutions will be sought for, ‘’ she said.