Cyberattacks on susceptible SMEs worrisome, say cybersecurity experts
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Nigerian Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) suffered the most cyberattacks in 2022, based on a report by the Cyber Security Expert Association of Nigeria (CSEAN).
The report, which was presented during a conference of CSEAN in Abuja, sheds light on trends in cyberattacks in 2022 and could provide insights into occurrences in 2023.
Phishing attacks on SMEs rose to 87 per cent in 2022 against 37 per cent in 2021, disclosed CSEAN Research and Development Director John Odumesi.
“Part of the findings and key threat trends we discovered is that data protection policies enforcement and disclosure practices are grossly lagging; there is a surge in corporate phishing attacks.
“There is a rise of ransomware in the industrial control system environment, compromise of business emails, and malware such as Backdoor skyrocketed,” Odumesi said, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
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Protection against cyberattacks
“To combat cyber-attacks, we need to maintain a detailed cyber security policy; individuals and organizations should be email skeptic; organizations should develop an incident response plan,” Odumesi added, per Nairametrics.
“We also need to protect our systems, travel wisely on the internet, avoid password pitfalls, and engage the services of cyber security experts,”
Odumesi disclosed the study surveyed more than 552 participants and collated online media and cybersecurity reports.
CyberSoc Africa Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Yaniv Ovitz noted a general progress in combating cybercrimes from 2019, especially in fintech, but said the efforts reduced because of talent loss through “japa syndrome”.
Sophos West Africa Territory Manager Jimi Falaiye reiterated cybersecurity is a continuous exercise and perfection cannot be achieved.
“Cybersecurity ecosystem is a dynamic environment, so we have threat actors; these are the bad guys who are investing a lot in launching their attacks,” he said.
“Meanwhile, from the internal, it is usually reactive for most organizations, and it has formed an imbalance in the system.
“The good guys in organizations are trying to catch up with what the bad guys are doing, which should be on the contrary.”
Research by Sophos shows 71 per cent of Nigerian firms were hit with ransomware in 2021 and they paid $706,452 ransom.
