The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, has expressed concern over cyberspace threats and attacks, saying cyberattacks have increased by over 300 percent in Africa.
Pantami, while declaring open a two-day workshop organized by his ministry in partnership with World Bank for cybersecurity stakeholders at the Digital Economy Complex, Mbora, Abuja, said the workshop is to fine-tune and update the skills of stakeholders to enable them to tackle cybersecurity challenges effectively, stated that Nigeria recorded over 16 million cyberattacks in the general elections.
The minister noted that the impact would have been devastating on Nigeria’s infrastructure if it has succeeded, and explained that all of them were blocked due to the sophisticated infrastructure the government had put in place.
“Over 16 million cyberattacks recorded from within and outside the country against the nation’s infrastructure before, during, and after this year’s general election across the country.
“It is not the number of attacks that matters here but the ability of government institutions to block them. If we had just three cyberattacks and two out of the three succeeded, it would be very dangerous and devastating for our country.
“Nigeria recorded a total of 12.9 million (12,988,978) cyber-threats, originating from both within and outside Nigeria during the presidential election and a total of 3.8 million (3,834,244) cyber-attacks, originating from both within and outside Nigeria during the governorship and states’ House of Assembly elections.“Attempts that were recorded included Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), email and Internet Protocol Spoofing (IPS) attacks, SSH Login Attempts, Brute Force Injection Attempts, Path Traversal, Detection Evasion, and Forceful Browsing.
“These statistics are alarming, and they highlight the need for urgent action to protect our infrastructure and digital economy.
“Hence, the importance of having a robust cybersecurity strategy cannot be overstated, and it is essential to protect our digital infrastructure, businesses, and citizens,” the minister said.
“This trend is particularly worrisome, given that Africa’s digital economy is on the rise. The World Bank has predicted that Africa’s digital economy could be worth $180 billion by 2025, representing a significant opportunity for growth and development across the continent.
“However, this growth could be severely impeded if businesses and organizations do not take the necessary steps to protect themselves against cyber threats,” Pantami said.
The minister explained that in the past three years, over 21 digital economy policies were been implemented by the present administration.
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