Cybercrime, which continued to be the biggest threat to enterprise, is projected to cost the world up to $6 trillion (about N270trillion) in damages with over 6o percent of small businesses vulnerable.
The co-founder of Digital Encode, Dr. Obadare Peter Adewale made the disclosure at the first Tech Innovation Forum organised by the Nigerian Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA), which held today.
To underscore the increase of cybersecurity and the challenges it poses to businesses, Adewale referred to the World Health Organisation (WHO), which said recently that cybersecurity attacks on its operations, some of it targeted at its staff, have risen fivefold since the outbreak of Covid 19.
The WHO report, this week, said that some 450 of its active email addresses and passwords were leaked online along with thousands belonging to others on the novel coronavirus response. The leaked documents did not put WHO systems at risk, though, because the data was not recent, however, the attack did impact an older extranet system, used by current and retired staff, as well as partners.
To mitigate the damages cybersecurity could cause enterprises, Adewale said business operators need to reset their minds and begin to ask the question as to whether their security program is operating effectively.
Though about 60 percent of SMEs often experience cyberattacks in their first six mon ts of operation, and in some cases leading them to run out of business, according to Adewale, there is hope to reduce the impact.
Adewale said SMEs should embrace some basic cybersecurity practices such as buying licensed and no pirated software, which are more prone to attacks.
“When you buy pirated software you cannot update it, leading to greater risks of cyberattacks.
“You can also have volume encryption and antivirus systems. He added: “Putting control in place for cybersecurity is a cost, just as not putting control also as its own costs”.
