Joseph Inokotong, Abuja
The Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) has said that banks in the country spent about N200 billion to prevent various forms of cyber attacks on their operations in 2019.
NCS also pointed out that the two major attacks that confronted the financial sector last year, were Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS), and Social Engineering.
DDoS attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt normal traffic of a targeted server, service or network by overwhelming the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of Internet traffic, while Social Engineering attacks are the use of deception to manipulate individuals into divulging confidential or personal information that may be used for fraudulent purposes.
President of NCS, Prof. Adesina Sodiya, said more efforts should be harnessed locally to curb the growing menace of cyber attacks in Nigeria.
Globally, the number of DDoS attacks increased by 84 per cent in the first quarter of 2019 compared to fourth quarter 2018, according to research from Kaspersky Lab.
Sodiya said multiple attacks were launched on the banks, but did not disclose their identities because of the sensitive nature of bank operations, noting that the financial systems have become more proactive and sophisticated in tackling some of these challenges.
He added: “Today, individuals, governments and corporate organisations are losing huge sums of money and property as a result of cyber attacks.
“Threats on the landscape continue to change rapidly, and attacks are increasing in might and sophistication. It is also believed that this trend will continue in the nearest future.
“Consequently, concerted effort is needed to enhance cybersecurity in Nigeria.”