The Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria (CSEAN), has announced plans for this year’s “Cyber Secure Nigeria Conference” scheduled to take place in Lagos, May 9-10, 2018 at the Four Points by Sheraton, Victoria Island, Lagos.
According to a statement issued and signed by Remi Afon, President of CSEAN, this year’s conference with the theme “Mitigating Cyber Threats in the Digital Age” would provide a guideline for corporate and government agencies to mitigate the menace of cyber-attack, which has grown exponentially in Nigeria.
The statement noted that in 2015, global cybercrime damages were about $3 trillion, but the damages will reach about $6 trillion by the end of 2021, a 100 percent increase in just five years according to Cybersecurity Ventures.
“Unfortunately, with these figures, over 85 percent of organisations and government agencies in Nigeria lack cybersecurity plan and strategy while the majority is unsure whether or not they’ve been a victim of cybercrime. This is why the “Cyber Secure Nigeria Conference” has become more than necessary. Cyber Secure Nigeria 2018 Conference will focus on how businesses can protect themselves from falling victims and also learn how to mitigate these threats in a digital age through workshops, technical sessions, plenary sessions and breakout session,” Afon said in the statement.
He added that cyber threats and attacks are constantly growing and becoming more sophisticated, dangerous and damaging, advising that it should be a top priority for businesses to protect their networks, computers and information from unauthorized access and breaches.
As enterprises and governments now provide most services online to their clients, the size of cyber-attack has grown exponentially. Many of these cyber criminals’ current exploits are going unnoticed.
The cybercriminal community has evolved locally and internationally from script kiddies and organized gangs to nation-states and hacktivist groups whose exploit has caused loss of productivity, financial loss and reputational damage to organisations and government.
Recently, SecureworksCounter Threat Unit researchers released a report on a group of Nigerian cybercriminals code named “Gold Galleon” targeting maritime industry via business email compromise (BEC) and business email spoofing (BES) fraud to dupe their unsuspecting victims into parting with millions of dollars. It is estimated that between June 2017 and January 2018, the cybercriminals attempted to steal upwards of $3.9 million, and on average, fraud attempts theft level may reach $6.7 million per year.
The Cyber Secure Nigeria Conference, which has become an annual event, and is in its fourth year would provide an unparalleled gathering of cyber security Industry giants, government, academia, Information Security Professionals from Nigeria and International Community.
Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria (CSEAN) is a non-profit organisation composed of Information Security Professionals in Nigeria and Diaspora, recognising the need for unified effort and framework across board to tackle Cyber Crime. Cyber Security Experts of Nigeria (CSEAN) was established as an advocacy group to galvanise the movement and development of Information Security in Nigeria.