06/08/2008
Relatively speaking, the impact of Cyber_Crime and Cyber Security is so colossal that it has the capability of wiping out development gains of a nation and retarding her growth fortunes by many decades _ in terms of GDP, if proper steps are not taken. Such nations may fall victim to organized cyber security threat and invariably become a digital colony to electronically unbreakable nations! Currently, experts have proclaimed “Cyber_Crime and Cyber Security as the greatest and perhaps most dangerous threat to the development of mankind living on the planet earth today.”
And According to reliable sources, the Presidency is deeply conscious of this fact and is putting strategic measures to ensure that cyber crime and cyber security is not only an integral part of its processes but placed on the high priority list of its deliverables. In particular, it is utilizing all available resources to ensure that the planned success of Vision 2020 and Mr. President’s seven point agenda is secured from any unforeseen impact of Cyber Crime. However, to achieve this, other schools of thought say, will amount to a monumental task, due to the enormity and complexities of the deeply routed technological challenges posed by cybercrime and cybersecurity in the global and within our national Cyberspace.
Today, Cybercrime and Cyber Security have become perhaps the most critical issues on the global development agenda for almost all governments. To many informed countries, it has become a matter of life or death – because the survivability of their nations now revolve on the dynamics of Information and Communications Technology. ICT is now accepted, not only as the common currency, but indeed, represents the centre of gravity of the new world and new economy of the universe!
As we migrate deeper into the unknown tunnel of the Digital Revolution, no nation will be capable of achieving the objectives and the critical tasks of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) nor fulfill the targets set for her national development vision and plans, unless she tackles and resolves the challenges of Cybercrime and ensures that commensurate infrastructure and human resource capacities are built to effective respond to the emerging monster. It is within the dynamics of the available global statistics on cybercrime that the assumption that Nigeria faces a monumental challenge with respect on how to respond effectively to the recurring decimal of CyberCrime and Cyber Security.
All the above may have informed the emergence of the first national conference on Cybercrime
and Cyber security – aimed at alerting and preparing the nation to be aware and effectively respond to the emerging digital Tsunami!
The Theme of the conference which is “National Digital Security: Engaging the Challenges of Digital Criminality, & the Future of Nigeria” – the Role of Federal Government of Nigeria _ “ is indeed a significant wake up call for Nigeria policy makers at National, State and Local Government levels – who are mandated and responsible for not only for protecting the life and property of the Nigerian citizenry, but indeed for safeguarding and sustaining the sovereignty.
As we write to convey this critical information and reality about the digital cyber space of the world we live in, cyber_attackers are using the speed and global connectivity of the Internet to make national boundaries irrelevant, and sophisticated attackers leave little in the way of electronic evidence that can be used to track or trace them. The domestic and international implications of an increasingly critical societal dependence on the Internet makes necessary the ability to deter, or otherwise minimize, the effects of cyber_attacks.
The capability of a nation (or a cooperating group of nations) to track and trace the source of any attacks on its infrastructures or its citizens is central to the deterrence of such attacks and hence to a nation’s long_term survivability and prosperity. An acknowledged ability to respond, track and trace both domestic and international attackers can preempt future attacks through fear of reprisals such as criminal prosecution, military action, economic sanctions, and civil lawsuits.*
Therefore, in line with the tenants of Vision 2020 and the 7 point Agenda of President Umoru Musa Ya’Adua (GCFR), the scheduled National Conference on Cybercrime and Cyber security now officially confirmed to hold at the Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja, from 18_20 August, represents a strategic imperative for the actualization of the 7 point Agenda – particularly the Security concern as referenced and reproduced below:
“ SECURITY – An unfriendly security climate precludes both external and internal investment into the nation. Thus, security will be seen as not only a constitutional requirement but also as a necessary infrastructure for the development of a modern Nigerian economy. With its particular needs, the Niger Delta security issue will be the primary focus, marshaled not with physical policing or military security, but through honest and accurate dialogue between the people and the Federal Government”
According to Howard F. Lipson, of CERT® Coordination Center USA, in his comprehensive report to the US Department of State: “The creation and phenomenal growth of the Internet has spawned the emergence of a global information society. Businesses possessing highly distributed information assets can function internationally with great efficiency, exchanging information quickly and seamlessly among their divisions, partners, suppliers, and customers.*”
“Governments use the Internet to provide information to their citizens and to the world at large, and they will increasingly use the Internet to replace manual methods of collecting information and providing government services. Governmental use of the Internet will increasingly extend to international information sharing and collaboration. The scientific, engineering, and educational communities are all using the Internet as an indispensable tool for collaboration and rapid dissemination of information on advances in research and practice at all levels of scientific and engineering endeavor."
Vanguard