By Kester Omu
The Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria (CSEAN) has given reasons why the Cyber Secure Nigeria Conference, scheduled to hold in Abuja from tomorrow, being Tuesday to Thursday has turned into an annual gathering of all stakeholders, especially in the cybersecurity ecosystem.
The President of CSEAN, Mr. Remi Afon adduced the reasons in a chat with ITPulse, ahead of the 3-day conference, which he disclosed will focus on implementing cybersecurity and data privacy practices in Nigeria.
“We realise that cyber security has not been given adequate attention by organisations in Nigeria, which made them more vulnerable to cyber attacks,” he stated, revealing that the theme of this year’s edition is ‘Implemeting CyberSecurity and Data Privacy Practices in Nigeria.’
Afon noted that the conference is primarily being organized, having rated the Nigeria’s security on the cyberspace to be very poor, as the Government and organisations be it small, medium or large in Nigeria are not taking adequate measures to protect data in their possession.
He argues that the high vulnerability of Nigeria to cyber attack can be attributed to lack of adequate legal framework and regulation that compels organisations to take adequate measures to protect data they hold and also have minimum cybersecurity controls in place.
He also believes that there is a lack of public-private partnership in dealing with cybersecurity issues in Nigeria. “Cybersecurity should be shared responsibility,” he argues further.
In its 5th edition, the Cyber Secure Nigeria Conference is seen by industry watchers as one of the preeminent conferences in Nigeria. The conference has carved a niche for itself attracting industry leaders from the public and private sector. The regulator, including the Nigerian Communications Commission and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) are not left out.