The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in line with the National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) has commenced a four-day awareness campaign to inform and ensure citizens are safe and secured online. The four-day awareness campaign summit which began on Monday is themed "Cyber-Aware Citizenry: A Foundation of the Digital Economy" and will share simple tips and easy resources to help people ensure safety and security online throughout the campaign. The Director-General, NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa explained that the cybersecurity awareness summit was aimed at empowering Nigerians in efforts to enable them to protect their cyberspace, especially as the level of cyberattacks is on the increase.
"Developing a digital economy hinges on trust and safer cyberspace and at NITDA, we embarked on this annual campaign to build trust in our journey to a digital Nigeria.
"The summit is in commemoration with the global Cyber Security Awareness Month which targets four strata of the society including public organisations, parents and children, youth, and corporate organisations.
"The contents are focused on sensitising Nigerians to stay safe and avoid criminality while online," Inuwa said.
He further mentioned that other activities at the summit include sensitization summit, capacity building for legislative officers, nationwide cybersecurity awareness campaign as well as a webinar series. Other topics to be discussed are Child Online Protection: Creating a Cyber-Secure Home for Children and Parents, and Protecting Your Online Presence while executing your mandate in the Digital Economy Era.
The DG also said efforts to create national economic prosperity would be counterproductive with cybercriminals limiting the nation's drive in achieving a digital economy.
He said "If we all do our part, implementing stronger security practices, raising community awareness, educating vulnerable ones, or training employees, our interconnected world will be safer and more resilient for all of us.
"Our growing dependence on technology, coupled with the increasing threat of cyber attacks demands greater security in our online world," he said.
Speaking, Cyber security expert, Sunday Folayan while presenting a paper on "Industry Expectation of Government Action on Policy, Strategy and Enforcement" said the level and trend of increasing cyber attack needs to be monitored in order to achieve a mitigation strategy.
"NITDA has said that a secure cyberspace is a criterion to a robust digital economy and when there is a cyber attack, government websites are potential targets."
Also, urging the government to put measures to forestall attacks as well as work in synergy with other stakeholders in securing information infrastructures.
