MTN Nigeria recently hosted SME owners to a cybersecurity awareness event. The event, which registered over 100 stakeholders, was held at the MTN Nigeria headquarters at Falomo, Lagos, on Friday, November 11, 2022.
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% in 2022. Perhaps more damning is the report by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) that Nigeria has lost $500 million due to cyberattacks.
Delivering his keynote address, Dr. Peter Adewale, co-founder of DigitalEncode and Chief Visionary Officer at DigitalEncode, 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, said, “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.”
The reality is that small businesses in Nigeria need to be better informed about the dangers and threats they face because they are often the target of these attacks, as they often lack the resources to invest in a cybersecurity team.
Speaking at the event, Nkiruka Joy Aimienoho, Associate Director, Cybersecurity, Privacy, and Resilience, PwC, stated, “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.”
The event, themed “Building a Cybersecurity Intelligent Quotient” furthers MTN’s commitment to sensitising SME owners and the general public on the dangers of cyber-attacks and how to mitigate such attacks.