MTN Nigeria, in a bid to clamp down on cybercrime and fraudulent activities has trained owners of Small and Medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and raised awareness on best cyber security practices.
In an event themed, ‘Building a Cybersecurity Intelligent Quotient’ held in Lagos, MTN Nigeria executed the training programme.
This furthers MTN’s commitment to sensitising SME owners and the general public on the dangers of cyber-attacks and how to mitigate such attacks.
As the world becomes more digital, cyber-attacks have become both frequent and severe. Figures from Kaspersky shows that cyberattacks on SMEs have increased by 89 per cent in 2022. Perhaps more damning is the report by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) that Nigeria has lost $500 million due to cyberattacks.
The co-founder of DigitalEncode and chief visionary officer at DigitalEncode, Dr. Peter Adewale gave insights on the importance of cybersecurity and best practices in cybersecurity.
He said: “there is no better time to talk about cybersecurity than now because we live in a digital world, and the reality is that COVID-19 has accelerated the usage of technology for everyone. Events like these are necessary because we need to create situational awareness about the risks of cyberattacks. It is important to build capacity and train people because people are an essential part of cybersecurity, and you can’t go wrong when you train people.”
Senior manager, Information Security, MTN Nigeria, Anietie Jude, stressed that, “we are delighted to be hosting this event because we want to improve the safety of Nigerian lives and businesses, cyber security is everyone’s business and we need to ensure everyone is cybersmart.”
Small businesses in Nigeria, she continued, need to be better informed about the risks and dangers they face because they are frequently the targets of these attacks and frequently do not have the funds to hire a cybersecurity team.
Speaking at the event, associate director, Cybersecurity, Privacy, and Resilience, PwC, Nkiruka Aimienoho, stated that, “it is important that SMEs start to take cybersecurity seriously; they must imbibe this culture because cyber-attacks can happen to anyone. Events like this are important because they raise awareness and remind people that they must be cyber-aware.”
