MTN Nigeria recently hosted SME owners to a cybersecurity awareness event. The event, which registered over 100 stakeholders, was held at the MTN Nigeria headquarters at Falomo, Lagos, on Friday, November 11, 2022.
As the world becomes more digital, cyber-attacks have become both frequent and severe. Figures from Kaspersky show that cyberattacks on SMEs have increased by 89% in 2022. Perhaps more damning is the report by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) that Nigeria has lost $500 million due to cyberattacks
Delivering his
keynote address, Dr. Peter Adewale, co-founder of DigitalEncode and Chief
Visionary Officer at DigitalEncode, gave insights on the importance of
cybersecurity and best practices in cybersecurity. He said, “There is no better
time to talk about cybersecurity than now because we live in a digital world,
and the reality is that COVID-19 has accelerated the usage of technology for
everyone. Events like these are necessary because we need to create situational
awareness about the risks of cyberattacks. It is important to build capacity
and train people because people are an essential part of cybersecurity, and you
can't go wrong when you train people.”
Senior Manager,
Information Security, MTN Nigeria, Anietie Jude, said, “We are delighted
to be hosting this event because we want to improve the safety of Nigerian
lives and businesses, cyber security is everyone's business and we need
to ensure everyone is cyber smart."
The reality is that
small businesses in Nigeria need to be better informed about the dangers and
threats they face because they are often the target of these attacks, as they
often lack the resources to invest in a cybersecurity team.
Speaking at the
event, Nkiruka Joy Aimienoho, Associate Director, Cybersecurity, Privacy, and
Resilience, PwC, stated, "It is important that SMEs start to take
cybersecurity seriously; they must imbibe this culture because cyber-attacks
can happen to anyone. Events like this are important because they raise
awareness and remind people that they must be cyber-aware."
The event, themed
"Building a Cybersecurity Intelligent Quotient” furthers MTN’s commitment
to sensitizing SME owners and the general public on the dangers of
cyber-attacks and how to mitigate such attacks.
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