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Cybersecurity And Risk Mitigation
By Austin Okere
“Twitter hack: 130 accounts targeted in attack” was the screaming headline on the BBC’s website on July 17, 2020.
Two days earlier, the social media site had admitted a major cyber-attack of celebrity accounts. The security breach saw accounts including those of Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Kanye West and Bill Gates tweet a Bitcoin scam to millions of followers. Several Bitcoin-related accounts began tweeting what appeared to be a simple Bitcoin scam, promising to “give back” to the community by doubling any Bitcoin sent to their address. Then, the apparent scam spread to mainstream celebrity accounts such as Kim Kardashian West and former vice-president Joe Biden, and those of corporations Apple and Uber.
Twitter is not the only high-profile company that has been hit. Just about every other company you can think about has suffered similar fate. The roll call of victims includes Rupert Murdock’s News Corp, Sony PlayStation Network, Government of turkey, Britain’s Serious Organized Crime Agency, and the CIA amongst others.
The story of hacking will not be complete without Anonymous; a sophisticated group of politically motivated hackers who have emerged since 2011. Anonymous are demonstrating how vulnerable companies that are charged with protecting our data are. Anonymous hacked 485 Chinese government websites, some more than once, to protest the treatment of their citizens. Among their major successful hacks are Visa, MasterCard, Amazon, PayPal, PostFinance, Bank of America, and Sony Computer Entertainment. We are at the beginning of the mighty struggle for the internet with the aged old dilemma that pits the demands of security with the desires for freedom.
Cybercrime has now become so prevalent globally that there is hardly any organization that is yet to be hacked, and Nigeria is no exception. In fact, it is said that there two types of organizations, those that know they have been hacked and those that don’t. If in doubt, ask your customers, and they will have a bucketful of useful feedback for you.
The increasing trends in cyber security breaches are due to the following factors; the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) – with over 25b devices forecasted to be connected by 2025, globalisation of cybercrime, the cybersecurity skills gap that continues to grow, Increased skill levels of attackers, increased use of the Public Cloud, increasing reliance on technology and digitisation – (now fuelled by the pandemic and working from home) and attackers risk/reward imbalance amongst others.
Polls at a recent cybersecurity webinar that I facilitated was very revealing:
- 54% of respondents said they had been hacked
- 31% said their company had been hacked
- 67% considered PEOPLE the weakest link in cybersecurity – way over Process, and Technology.
And yet we spend significantly more money on products and technology, with little emphasis on mass education.
Hiring the most accomplished CISA, however, will not do very much good if there is not a deliberate policy of self-awareness of all staff, especially during this period where there is an explosion in people working from home and connecting to enterprise servers through personal systems that could more easily be compromised. Neither is buying the most expensive antivirus the magic wand. It is like having the best pizza toppings without the base bread. Or like having the best machine leaning algorithm without the Big Data that the system will use for pattern detections.
Cyber-attacks can have significant business impact including; loss of funds, theft of intellectual property, serious disruption to business, damage to reputation, loss of customer trust, huge regulatory fines, litigation costs and possible bankruptcy.
Risk mitigation against cybersecurity is most effective in its Dynamic Collaborative Form. Dynamic because it requires a shared Body of Knowledge that is consistently updated and available to all parties. Risk mitigation cannot be a competitive strategy for any organization; this notion could be quite illusory because the nature of cybercrime can be likened to an elephant. People at the side may think it is a wall, people at the trunk may think it is a snake. People at the tail may think in it is a monkey, and people at the leg may think it is a tree trunk.
As in the case of the elephant, it is only when you have curated the complete and accurate picture through which the breach can manifest that you can effectively deal with it or contain it. This is why there is a need for constant collaboration and open and transparent reporting, similar to the way that the COVID Pandemic is being collectively monitored and reported globally. This is what helped to curb the chain email fraud also known as “419” and many malicious computer viruses unleashed to take over users’ systems.
Governments and private establishments can improve protection of critical infrastructure from cyber-attacks by following the following basis principles:
- First rule is not to assume anything is secure.
- Second is not to assume you will not be targeted.
- Third is to realize that modern systems have so many moving parts that you can’t really use a strategy of owning all of it, partnerships are essential.
- Nations have to build extreme levels of expertise across a wide threat surface. It’s no use protecting the databases while the CCTVs in the President’s office and residence have been compromised.
- Nations have to build cyber armies and cyber police to tackle external aggression, protect national assets and protect her citizens.
The most dangerous intruders are not the ones with guns but the ones with laptops. The terrorist killing people with bullets is “small fish” compared to the one that can make planes fall from sky or trains crash, or provoke a riot or influence an election without leaving any trace.
Cyber-attack is the new normal. Organizations and Technology Providers can mitigate these attacks by Perpetual state of vigilance. Every internet connected or smart device is a potential back door. From the internet connected TV to your webcam or printer. Even if nothing is stolen from you, your resources can be hijacked to attack others. Don’t assume you have enough expertise to be in constant state of vigilance all by yourself. Cyber products and cyber companies are also at risk. If you are a transaction-oriented company then you have to be using Artificial Intelligence to watch out for fraudulent transactions. If you are a data company then you need to think of encrypting data at rest and in transit. Two factor authentications are a must for all sensitive access. Walling off all critical systems from the net as a last means of firewall is simply not a practical solution.
Are organizations and private establishments in Nigeria doing enough to collaborate on threats? I believe that we could do more.
There should be a national Security Operations Center (SOC) and threat Database where all incidents are reported. This center should also disseminate threats and analyze incidents to help others prevent similar infiltrations. Many firms, especially banks, think it will impact their brand if they disclose vulnerabilities and attacks. The under reporting or cover up of breaches portends a vicious cycle of repeated unanticipated hacks, because you are inadvertently empowering the hackers to cause more damage to you by not reporting and exposing them and their future hacking plans.
Working in silos is not an option, because even when you believe you have secured your fortress; how do you guard against third parties connecting to your system through Application Programing Interfaces (APIs)? Take for instance the case of the N11b breach involving a major Nigerian Bank and a Fintech company, E-Transact. According to a report by TechNext.com, this came to light following a petition that the company developed a solution which helped Smart micro Systems to defraud the bank. Have we thoroughly investigated and comprehensively documented the nature of the beach and the vulnerabilities exploited? The demography and architype of the perpetrators? Any possible internal collaboration or any systems bugs? Answers to these question to the right quarters is invaluable in foiling future attacks. While this may not be the only major successful breach, the system is so opaque that you will struggle to find a database of cases to learn from and anticipate future attacks.
The major reasons why organizations generally do not report breaches are fear of litigation or regulatory action and loss of reputation. In tackling cybercrime, we all have to be on the same team!
According to iafrican.com, Nigeria is set to establish a Cyber Security Research Centre (CSRC) to combat cybercrime. This is in a bid to build capacity and co-ordinate incident management and contribute to knowledge generation in cyber security. According to reports, Nigeria is already working with Cyber Security Malaysia and the Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre (CCIRC) on establishing the CSRC.
While these are useful initiatives, there is a need for organizations to come together to collaborate on researching past breaches and documenting them and comprehensively reporting current breaches to learn from them in order to prevent future attacks. Private organizations such as the Risk Management Association of Nigeria (RIMAN) and the Bank Directors Association of Nigeria (BDAN) could be hardened and work closely with Government Agencies such as the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) on existing and new initiatives towards combating Cybercrime.
Cybercrime and cybersecurity are real, but they are not rocket science and they are certainly no scarier than COVOD or EBOLA. If we could contain Ebola, Aids and 419 through collaboration, then surely, we can also contain cybercrime through Collaboration too; but we must be willing to take the painful steps that are necessary to safeguard ourselves and our organizations. Only then can we build the requisite trust in the system to continue to enjoy the fruits of digital transformation.
Austin Okere is the Founder of CWG Plc, the largest ICT Company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange & Entrepreneur in Residence at CBS, New York. Austin also serves on the Advisory Board of the Global Business School Network, and on the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Innovation and Intrapreneurship. Austin now runs the Ausso Leadership Academy focused on Business and Entrepreneurial Mentorship.
Today April 29th is a special day. It is the birthday anniversary of Otunba Dr. Mike Adenuga, Chairman of Globacom and Conoil PLC, amongst other flourishing companies who turn 71 years old. A special gift to Nigeria, Dr. Adenuga is a colossus. He is renowned for his business acumen.
When it is comes to business, he’s got the vision. He can see good fortune light years ahead while others are still pandering whether it is feasible. Dr. Adenuga is unafraid to venture where others fear to tread. Fondly called ‘The Bull’ for his fearless and zeal to take “No” for an answer, he’s got this Midas touch that is unparalleled.
Oil, Gas Transformations
He transformed the face of Nigerian oil, banking, and telecommunications industries. In 1991, when oil mining and production was controlled by foreign multinational oil companies, Dr. Adenuga’s indigenous oil company was the first to start drilling crude oil. Today, Conoil has metamorphosed into one of the largest African-owned oil conglomerates on the continent with footprints in the upstream, midstream and downstream of the oil and gas sector.
His forays into the bank industry are well documented where he brought a fresh energy and bespoke financial services with Devcom Merchant Bank and Equatorial Trust Bank (ETB) which later merged into Sterling Bank.
Changing Telecom Services Narrative
If there is anyone who has single-handed transformed Nigerian telecommunications industry, that person is no other than Dr. Adenuga. His tenacity to recover his Digital Mobile Licence (DML) which his company won in 2001 mobile auction but was illegally taken away from him, paid off in 2003 when his company Globacom won the Second National Operator (SNO) licence.
In September 2003, Globacom transformed the Nigerian telecoms market in particular and Africa in general being the first Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) operator to launch operations with Per Second Billing, Multimedia Service (MMS), Mobile Internet, in additional to plethora of communications suites.
Glo crashed the price of Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) card, leaving other foreign mobile networks scratching their heads in the GSM wars that changed the face of telecom, bringing down the price of SIM Card from N50,000 down to N100 and later to One Naira (N1) only.
Millions of Nigerians became overnight owners of mobile phones lines courtesy of the competition engendered by Glo. Every major step Glo took from the day it commenced operation, other mobile competitors were jittery, helpless and followed the initiative in other to remain in the market.
After establishing the footprints of Glo in Nigeria, Dr. Mike Adenuga (Jr.), also took the telecom giant to Ghana and Benin Republic with mobile operating licences in those countries. Unsatisfied with the routing of calls from Africa countries to Europe then to Africa, he built Glo-1, the first submarine cable system that was solely financed by an individual. Today, Glo-1 links global telecom networks, data centres, banks and Interconnect houses.
Globacom unfazed has going a notch higher with Glo-2 ensuring that Nigerian cities, towns and villages and oil companies are connected to terrestrial fibres through its landing stations in Lagos and Niger Delta.
Digital Financial Services
Dr Adenuga, a man who can see opportunities from afar, has took the lead in procuring Super-Agent licence for Agency Banking and Mobile Money licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) with the establishment of Glo Mobile Money and Money Master Payment Service Bank Limited, a Digital Bank delivering financial inclusion services to Nigerians especially in rural, semi-rural and urban areas thus connecting them to the formal sector.
Man flowing with Milk of Human Kindness
The humanitarian side of this famous Nigerian billionaire is incomparable. Although, coming from a middle-class family, Dr. Mike Adenuga’s (Jr.) academic sojourn in the United States of America and the everyday life lessons internalized from his parents, Chief Michael Agbolade Adenuga (Snr) and Madam Oyindamola Adenuga, shaped his worldview and brought out his humane side in the way he deals with people and businesses.
He has been a major supporter of sports, especially football (Nigerian national teams). He has massively sponsored the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Awards for many years. He was honoured the title of Pillar of Football in Africa for his strong support for African Football at both national and continental. He has quietly rendered support to many without seeking media attention.
Through him, Glo sponsors the annual Ojude Oba festival in Ijebuland and also the Ofala festival in Onitsha, Anambra amongst others, promoting Nigeria’s rich culture.
Humble Beginnings
A man of outstanding wisdom, Dr. Mike Adenuga (Jr.) was born Michael Adeniyi Agbolade Ishola Adenuga on April 29, 1953 at Ibadan, Oyo State. His father was a school teacher while his mother was an outstanding businesswoman.
Dr. Adenuga (Jr) is an alumnus of the famous Ibadan Grammar School, North Western State University, Alva Oklahoma; and Pace University, New York, both in the United States of America where he majored in business administration with emphasis in marketing. As a student in the USA, he supported himself with jobs as a taxi driver and security guard.
Dr. Mike Adenuga (Jr) is a visionary leader, an outstanding entrepreneur and and manager of people and resources. He is a man of uncommon intellect and wisdom have helped him overcome difficult times. Today, he sits atop a vast telecom, oil and gas (Conoil), banking and real estate investments.
As Dr. Mike Adenuga (Jr) clocks 71 years on Monday April 29th, 2024, SiliconNigeria.ng wishes him a marvelous birthday and many happy returns in good health in the service of the fatherland.
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