A Cybersecurity expert and Chief Executive Officer of Ash Nelson Partners, Sheila Ash Nelson, has raised alarm over the increasing risk of insider threats in Nigeria’s financial sector, calling for urgent investment in local cybersecurity talent and adaptive fraud prevention systems.

Nelson said insider-related breaches remain one of the most critical cybersecurity threats facing banks and government institutions, especially when trusted staff become compromised.

She noted that while ransomware and opportunistic cyber attacks are also on the rise, many breaches are the result of basic security gaps and a reactive approach to cyber defense.

The CEO explained that Ash Nelson Partners has supported several Nigerian banks in conducting cyber readiness drills simulating ransomware attacks, in collaboration with the Community of CISOs for Nigerian Financial Institutions (CISO NFI). The exercises revealed gaps in incident response and helped create sector-wide benchmarks for recovery and resilience.

Nelson said one major issue slowing down fraud response is the overreliance on foreign vendors for system updates adding that most banks previously had to wait weeks for external consultants to adjust fraud detection rules, exposing them to continued risk.

She said her firm’s platform gives banks real-time control to fine-tune fraud rules internally, significantly reducing false positives and improving investigation speed.

Nelson also stressed the importance of building local capacity, warning against the long-term risks of outsourcing critical cybersecurity operations.

She added that strengthening homegrown talent not only reduces costs but also ensures that cybersecurity deployments are aligned with local realities.

Nelson, however, called for more proactive investment in cybersecurity, stating that prevention is more effective and less costly than responding after a breach has occurred.