‘How organisations can stay safe from cyber attacks’

Cybercrime continues to evolve with new threats surfacing every year, hence, experts have stressed the need for organisations and businesses to create awareness on cybersecurity to minimise the risk.

According to cyber experts, who gathered at the Franco-Nigerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Business Webinar tagged, “Cyber-security and process automation,”’ businesses need to create strategies to mitigate cyber-attacks.

Cyberattack is an assault launched by cybercriminals using one or more computers against single or multiple computers or networks. A cyber attack can maliciously disable computers, steal data, or use a breached computer as a launch point for other attacks.

Senior Manager, Risk Advisory, Deloitte and Touche, Funmilola Odumuboni, said the weakest link in an organisation’s supply chain is the people. Organisations need to create awareness of cybersecurity to minimise the risk of cyberattacks.

Odumuboni said no industry is immune to cyberattacks, stating that organisations must have a monitoring system in their security infrastructure as cybersecurity is all about confidentiality, integrity and availability.

Speaking on ways to prevent cybercrime, she said vulnerability assessment and visibility can mitigate cyber-attacks in organisations.

Vice President, Cybersecurity Services, Schneider Electric, Jay Abdallah, said identifying the right people with a security strategy is key to fighting cybercrime, which consists of training and retraining workers of new technology.

Abdallah said organisations needed to identify the type of security controls they need.
According to him, over 90 per cent of data and security breaches are from insiders within an organisation.

He stated that dedicated network infrastructure was best suited for the Internet of Things (IoTs).

Channel Manager, West, East and Central Africa, Nutanix, Babatunde Abagun, said one of the ways to mitigate insider cyber-attack is through zero-trust security.

Abagun said for a robust security framework, organisations should pay attention to; the people, the process and the technology used in running their daily operations.

In his remarks, Senior Systems and Cybersecurity Engineer, Schneider Electric, Obukohwo Obukonise, said lack of security awareness is one of the major causes of cyberattacks, stating that organisations should have different layers of protection against the menace.”

Obukonise said organisations should have a database of verified applications to mitigate against cyber attacks.