Nigeria, Others Need Over 1million IT Experts To Mitigate Cyber Attacks –Sodiya

Following persistent attack on Nigeria’s cybersecurity system, an expert and Professor of Computer Science and Information Security, Prof Adesina Simon Sodiya has charged the Federal Government, corporate organisations and stakeholders in general, to ensure efficient intrusion prevention and detection systems for cybersecurity.

Prof. Sodiya recalled that over 12 million attacks were detected during the last election which was mitigated by the cybersecurity expert in Nigeria, submitting that Nigeria and other African countries required over a million cybersecurity experts to check cyber intrusion and attacks on their digital infrastructure and system.

“We still need over 1 million IT experts alone in Africa and over 5 million cybersecurity experts needed in the world, so we need to harness our skills in cybersecurity,” he maintained.

The professor gave the charge while delivering 80th Inaugural Lecture of Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) at Oluwafemi Balogun Ceremonial Building, Alabata permanent site of the university.

He argued that if there was effective access control of the system, it would be difficult to attack thereby, preventing it and enabling a secured domain controller (DC) using best practices.

Sodiya also tasked government on the need to set up Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) for swift response to attack incidents.

According to him, “Government should set up a Computer Emergency Response Team in all government sectors for swift response to attack incidents, and also develop a multi-lingual attack reporting platform”.

“For proactive cybersecurity management, corporate organization and government should make sure that all connections to the network are known, documented, and monitored. And the intelligence of hackers must be harnessed by the government for the development of our nation”, he added.

In the same vein, Sodiya also recommended that the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta and some other institutions should support the creation of a college of computing to develop adequate manpower and expertise needed in the field of cybersecurity.

He said,” Apart from stated recommendations, the University should support the creation of the College of Computing to develop adequate manpower and expertise needed in the field of cybersecurity”.

The don also called on the government and corporate organisations to address cybersecurity challenges to enable the country experience rapid digital transformation and sustainable national development.

The 80th Inaugural Lecturer who is a professor of Computer Science and Information Security, Department of Computer Science, College of Physical Sciences (COLPHYS) identified machine learning and artificial intelligence as two technologies that could be used to develop proactive cybersecurity solutions, as well as help to mitigate risk and reduce hazards.

Speaking on the title of the lecture, Prof.Sodiya informed that “Muddy waters represents the unstable and multifunction techniques used by cybercriminals in targeting their objects, hence understanding the attacker’s tactics, motivations and the potential impact essential for organisations to bolster their defense and safeguard sensitive information”.

Prof Sodiya acknowledged that though security experts and researchers were fighting hard, but there was need for new proactive and robust approaches to be employed, adding that “we all need to wake up and shine our eyes”.

Explaining the reason for contineous attacks on Information Technology infrastructure, the don stated that cybersecurity experts had continued to witness tremendous revolution because attack landscape was ever changing and attackers would continue to adopt new sophisticated tactics and approach.

The inaugural lecturer pointed out that winning the cybersecurity game required adopting coordinated, dynamic, novel, multi-level, multi-form, multi-appraoch, multi-tactics and multi-tiered strategies, that required every of the players to be smart and highly skillful to be able to win the rofo-rofo game of the cyberworld.

In his recommendations, Prof.Sodiya beckoned on government and corporate organisations to ensure all connections to the network were known, documented and monitored; ensure efficient access control system, implement trusted and efficient intrusion prevention and detection systems, among others.

The 80th Inaugural Lecturer also appealed to individuals to practise password safety, enable automatic software updates, review privacy settings, enable two-factor authentication, develop a multi-lingual attack reporting platforms.

Earlier in his opening remarks, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Olusola Babatunde Kehinde represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Development (DVCD), Prof Kola Adebayo described the inaugural lecturer as a scholar par excellence who had proved himself worthy in his chosen field.

He commended him for his immense contributions to the development of the university and the entire nation at large.