To achieve this task, the Senate panel has finalised actions to address the challenges posed by this menace through a national workshop on cybercrime prevention and control that will hold on February 11, 2010, at the International Conference Centre, Abuja. The workshop is being organised in collaboration with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Confirming this to The Guardian recently, one of the organisers, the President of the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), Chris Uwaje said that the need to come with a formidable strategy to curb this menace could not be over-emphasised, stressing that many countries around the globe had begun to establish formidable strategies towards eliminating the scourge that Nigeria could not afford to remain idle on the matter.
Uwaje hinted that the theme of the workshop is "Cybercrime as a National Emergency: Evolving Policy Strategies and Legal Framework for the Protection of Wireless Economy." According to him, the workshop was expected to attract a sizable and distinguished number of core stakeholders and participants across the country and from the ECOWAS sub-region.
To the Chairman, Senate Committee on Communication, Mr. Sylvester Anyanwu, the whole world was facing a great challenge presented by cybercrime, Nigeria - with about 95 per cent of her ICT Infrastructure built on wireless model could be classified as highly vulnerable to the emerging menace of cybercrime and cybersecurity and the Senate was prepared to ensure that the nation did not become a hostage to cybercrime at all levels.
Anyawu stressed that this was why a national workshop on cybercrime prevention and control had become a time-critical assignment and indeed a strategic imperative - aimed at addressing the critical and emerging challenges in the nation's Cyberspace.
"The upcoming workshop is indeed an international workshop and the core objective amongst others is to register Nigeria's concern and readiness in combating the menace of cybercrime, correct the wrong impression that Nigeria is an oasis for cybercrime and demand that the country be de-listed from the cyber-terrorism list of the United States," he added.
According to him, the workshop objectives would embrace and incorporate among others, to establish a roadmap for a national policy framework on cybercrime, to sanitise the negative impact of cybercrime and economy damages to the Nigerian nation, to establish the responsive instruments as the mechanism for legislation and legal framework for national cybercrime prevention and control, and to identify commensurate policy requirements, standards, needs and incentives for compliance on guidelines for protecting mational critical information infrastructure such as the Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) in banks, base stations, networks and other related infrastructure.
The central concern of many Nigerians is what is the government doing with respect to cybercrime and cyber security? Is Nigeria vulnerable to cybersecurity? What is the current impact of cybersecurity on our nation? And finally, what consequences await our nation within the context of inaction to address the issue of cybersecurity as a national emergency? How big are the cybersecurity issues in Nigeria and how much must government budget to protect her IT and digital related investments - especially those on 'critical information infrastructure'?
To him: "Fact is the issue and challenges are colossal and requires N trillion or 7.5 per cent of the national budget."
He was of the opinion that for a lasting solution to this menace, a collaborative efforts that will involve ICT professionals and experts developing solutions to help in this special domain, stressing that it was also important that Nigeria software developers must be specially empowered and protected to control the destiny of our electronic and digital information systems - else the nation would become a digital colony to others.
Among those listed to speak are Professor Charles Uwadia, president, Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Chris Uwaje, president, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), Prof. Oye Ibidapo-Obe, president, Nigeria Academy of Sciences and former vice chancellor of University of Lagos (UNILAG) and Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, president of ATCON.
"Time seems to be running out and urgent national action is critical and needed now before the nation becomes a vulnerable hostage to the cybercrime menace."
Adopting a global budgetary trend as a yard stick, Uwaje further pointed out that cybersecurity budget continued to be the biggest chunk of national IT budget. He said that for example, President Obama's multi $billion IT budget includes $billions for cybersecurity which includes the U.S. Federal Government's nearly 30 departments and agencies, as reported by Marianne Kolbasuk McGee of InformationWeek, with same trend is noticeable in Europe, China and Russia.
He said in order words, by simple equation, the government need to invest $7.3 billion to protect and save $71 billion IT component budget and the huge U.S. national budget. He recalled that cybersecurity related spending makes up a big slice of President Bush's proposed $71 billion IT budget for fiscal 2009. Of the $71 billion federal IT budget proposed by Bush for fiscal 2009, about $7.3 billion, or more than 10 per cent, is related to information security spending by about 30 department of the Federal Government operations.
According to him, a reliable white paper reveals that the focus on cybersecurity for fiscal 2009, which started October 1, follows a trend that has been set over the last few years, that in the U.S., Federal spending on IT security has climbed 73 per cent from $4.2 billion in fiscal 2004 to $7.3 billion in 2009.
Uwaje stated that it would be recalled that the Homeland Security Act was passed in 2002. Today the Homeland Security has grown from strength to strength. It is the department's first complete re-authorisation since the Homeland Security Act creating DHS was passed in 2002. By a vote of 424-4, House members approved a Bill that, among other things, provides support for information sharing within DHS and with other federal, state and local agencies. It would accelerate the development of new technologies and aggressively recruit new talent. A groundbreaking element in the Bill makes cybersecurity a greater priority for the government. It would create an assistant secretary for cybersecurity in the Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Directorate.
He added that the core justification of the big cybersecurity budget is the need to advance and protect e-government initiatives, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and information technology services and deliverables and technical support.
To him some of the expectations of the workshop included among others, convene a national workshop on preventing cybercrime and cyber-terrorism, establish national policy, strategies and legislation on cybercrime and cybersecurity, upgrade the nation's critical information infrastructure, empower local software developers to take control of Nigeria's electronic-digital content at all significant levels, collaborate with international cybercrime institutions.
Others are set the goal for a cybercrime-free Nigeria, work with other nations to increase warning and decision time on cybercrime and terrorism, prevent bio-terror attacks, build cybercrime and cybersecurity capacity to mitigate the consequences of cyber attacks and so on.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): deyemi Adepetun
Quelle/Source: The Guardian, 20.01.2010
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