HP Highlights Importance of Employee Collaboration in Addressing Cybersecurity
Emma Okonji
Given the rising nature of cyber attacks, and its damaging effects on ogainsations and businesses, the Country Head, HP Nigeria, Mr. Emmanuel Asika has stressed the need for organisations to consider employee collaboration in tackling the menace of cyber attacks within organisaions.
Asika, in a statement, explained that cyber attacks were fast becoming lucrative business for those who engage in it, even though many will hate to admit it.
Citing the FBI, which said there was a 207 per cent increase in reported case of cybercrime between 2008 and 2021, and almost $7 billion (N3.2 trillion) in losses last year, Asika said n Nigeria, the peril of cybercrimes recorded a massive rise in the first six months of 2022, “with phishing and scams hitting 174 per cent”.
He also quoted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as saying that well over 2,800 persons were convicted of cybercrimes in the country last year, and that the Consumer Awareness and Financial Enlightenment Initiative (CAFEI) has projected a $6 trillion loss by 2030 to cybercrime within and outside Nigeria.
According to Asika, it has become increasingly easier than ever before for hackers to work together in a specialised and concerted secretive supply chain.
“They have built fortes, proposing unique services like hiring of huge botnets to convey a customer’s preferred malware to thousands of targets, or hackers-for-hire who take full advantage of the destruction caused by ransomware – spreading an invasion of weak points in a network. The result of all these is that workers in scattered workplaces around the globe are now in more danger than ever before. The unclear distinction between private and work devices means that hybrid staff are not always shielded by enterprise defenses, thus the risk of attacks is always there.
“But there is a way out, and it lies with the employees who are usually the first line of defense, and they must work together. With computer crime now a part of how we do business, and growing, the only way to beat criminals is collaborating with one another to defend ourselves, ”he said.
Asika said hackers the world over betray trust in daily interfaces and exchanges online, mostly via emails, to gain access to systems.
He said emails remained the most common tool for hackers to secure illegal access to networks, and once they are in, they try to monetize their access—deactivating the group’s backups, stealing delicate information, and installing ransomware.
He explained that the effect of such violation could be grievous, leading to operational interruption, repairs, affect an organisation’s name, and leading to exposure of trade secrets and loss of intellectual property.
He therefore advised that corporate groups and their employees must work together to fortify their lines in this highly increasing risky atmosphere.
He advised organisations to exploit the advantages of its security investments by closing known common attack routes, especially malware sent via email and the web, which can be nullified using prevention technologies like the hardware-enforced isolation of HP Sure Click Enterprise.
Addressing the need for employee collaboration, Asika said cybersecurity remained a collaborative endeavor adding that organisations can confidently strengthen the kind of actions and habits they will like their staff to adopt by vigorous, regular awareness sessions and exercises tailored to their needs.
