ISSAN Confab: CBN to Collaborate with Stakeholders to Check Rising Cyberattacks

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has assured information security stakeholders and the general public of its collaboration to check the rising cases of cyberattacks within the Nigeria cyberspace. 

The Director, Payments System Management Department of the CBN, Mr. Musa Jimoh, in his keynote address at the annual Information Security Society of Africa – Nigeria (ISSAN) Cybersecurity Conference in Lagos, stated that the apex bank was firmly committed to building a sustainable payments ecosystem in the country. 

He commended ISSAN for organizing the event, stressing that CBN will continue to collaborate with organisations that are committed to addressing the rising activities of cyberattacks.

Also speaking, the President of FinTech Association of Nigeria (FinTechNGR), Ade Bajomo, said to adequately address the rising rate of cyberattacks, organizations should embrace collaboration and information sharing on cyber breaches. 

According to him, keeping silent on the part of organizations that had been attacked would not help others, stressing that full disclosure, synergy and information sharing on reported cyberattacks and how it was managed would guide other organizations to put preventive and counter measures in place. 

He called on organizations to constantly upgrade their technology to counter cyberattacks, urging them to have data backup.

The Co-founder/Chief Visionary Officer of Digital Encode, Dr. Adewale Peter Obadare, while expressing his views at the panel session, made case for collaboration amongst stakeholders, noting the need to strike the balance between the investments in people, technology and processes to fight cyberattack and fraud. 

Obadare further stated the need to build cybersecurity intelligence quotient, which will comprise augmented intelligence to check what is happening on the system real time, anticipatory intelligence to analyse what could happen, and assistive intelligence to determine what needs to be done. 

He recommended that digitization, digitalization and digital transformation should be addressed.

In his welcome address, ISSAN President, Dr. David Isiavwe, said the conference was devoted to further expose the new threats and trends in the cyber security space and also offer practical steps on what businesses and individuals need to know and do to check the rising tide of the activities of cyber-criminals. 

He observed that cyber attackers are getting more sophisticated globally, which is an aftermath of Covid-19 pandemic, adding that greater awareness must be created to minimize attacks on businesses that may result in losses by various organizations.

Isiavwe, who is also the General Manager at Ecobank, made case for customer awareness, as well as collaboration by all stakeholders.

Other speakers at the conference included the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Digital Jewels Limited, Mrs Adedoyin Odunfa; Founder & CEO, Mint FT Innovative, Mr. Similolu Akinnusi; Chief Information Security Officer, First Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Harrison Nnaji and Managing Partner, Technology Advisors LLP, Basil Udotai.

Others present were the Group Head, Customer Fulfillment Center, UBA, Mr. Prince Ayewoh; Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Financial Services Limited, Mr. Stanley Jacob; Sales Director (Africa), OneSpan Europe, Mr. Nicholas Poire and Field CTO, OneSpan Europe, Mr. Dan Mcloughin.

ISSAN is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the protection of Nigeria’s cyberspace specifically and the entire cyberspace in Africa generally.