Nigeria: 14 bold cybersecurity predictions of 2020 by CSEAN

The Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria (CSEAN) has released its cybersecurity predictions for 2020, warning that cybersecurity will continue to gain traction globally, largely to emerging technologies, some of which have defiled regulations.

The predictions, which were circulated via email to Journalists by the association’s President, Remi Afon, noted that Nigeria and the world at large will be faced with the combination of the old and new cyber threats, emanating from emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things IoT, Cloud Technology and Smart Phones, which are having great impact on our daily lives and equally offering new vulnerabilities for cybercriminals to exploit.

“As we leap into 2020, cybersecurity will continue to gain traction globally and should be at the top of the mind of the Nigerian government, individuals and top executives of Nigerian organisations. As we are receiving various cybersecurity predictions across the globe, CSEAN is taking a deep dive into specific cybersecurity threats Nigeria should expect to face in 2020 and beyond taking into consideration recent trends and inputs from experts in the industry,” the association stated.

Here are the year 2020 predictions:

1. Increase in targeted cyberattacks that will affect individuals, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Government Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs), Telecommunication Companies and Banks.
2. The attacks to watch out for in Nigeria are Business Email Compromise (BEC), Social Engineering in form of Phishing Campaign, Ransomware, Supply Chain Attacks, Insider threats, and Attack on Free Public Wifi.
3. Attacks that will continue to originate from Nigeria cybercrime gangs with their international collaborators in 2020 and beyond will continue to be wire fraud vis-à-vis BEC, identity theft, romance scams, fraudulent-check scams, gold-buying scams, advance-fee scams and credit card scams.
4. While phishing has been around for a long time, it will continue to be a very successful method of attack for hackers.
5. BEC attacks are growing in prevalence and creativity will continue to top cyberattacks originating from Nigeria for years to come.
6. More collaboration between Nigerian Cybercrime groups in partnership with their international cohorts to use spoofed email addresses and virtual private networks to anonymise their activities and infiltrate servers and email systems of various companies to identify large financial transactions.
7. Ransomware no doubt will continue to be on the rise in 2020, due to a lack of regulation mandating cyberattack disclosure by organisations in Nigeria.
8. Organisations, especially banks in Nigeria should be prepared for a major ransomware attack in 2020 in the league of WannaCry and Petya of 2017.
9. There will be Supply Chain Attacks through compromised 3rd party vendors and suppliers. This is because professional and business service outsourcing is on the rise.
10. Ransomware attacks (targeting cloud-based assets) will be on the rise. This is large because businesses are now moving their servers and data to the cloud and cybercriminals will take the opportunity to cause huge disruption to their victim’s business and automatically earn more money.
11. Cyber-attacks on critical infrastructures and sectors will increase in 2020 due to risk in cloud technology adoption, which can come in the form of accidental exposure, misconfigurations, un-secure third-party involvement and continuous shortage of cybersecurity experts in Nigeria.
12. Attacks on free public wifi will multiply. As the government is encouraged to install more “free” public wifi systems, hackers will take advantage of unsecured technology to intercept transactions, steal information, launch attacks and establish BotNETs for further attacks.
13. Insider threats, especially within the banking sector will become more frequent in Nigeria and will continue to be on the rise in 2020.
14. Collaboration between bank officials, especially staff with privileged access with cybercriminals will be on the increase in 2020.

Conclusively, the umbrella body of all cybersecurity professionals in Nigeria has advised that in today’s globalised world, where creating economic prosperity is intertwined with technological advancement, a more serious effort is required by the Nigerian government via sound policies and initiatives to confront and overcome the scourge of cybercrime and provide an enabling environment for the digital economic revolution.

It added that as Nigeria seeks to take its position on the world economic stage, it must tap into this global technological consciousness in order not to be left behind, stressing that the internet and digital technologies are transforming societies, boosting economic growth, connecting people and providing new ways to communicate and cooperate with one another.

“The internet is becoming increasingly central to our economy and embedded in our personal lives, but the growing role of cyberspace has opened new threats as well as new opportunities. The Federal government must pay attention to cybersecurity and cybercrime for the nation to flourish in an increasingly competitive and globalised world in the new decade,” it noted.