FUNAAB : Cybersecurity Don sets roadmap for Nigeria’s digital transformation and sustainable national development.

…. Calls for establishment of College of Computing and Computer Emergency Response Team

Professor Adesina Simon Sodiya of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, (FUNAAB) has charged the Federal Government, corporate organisations and stakeholders in general, to ensure efficient intrusion prevention and detection systems for cybersecurity towards rapid digital transformation and sustainable development.

Sodiya, a Professor of Computer Science and Information Security and current National President of Nigeria Computer Society, stated this during his delivery of the 80th Inaugural Lecture of the University titled ” The Muddy Waters in Winning the Revolutionised Cybersecurity Game” held recently at the Alabata campus of the University.

According to Sodiya, if there is effective access control of the system, it would be difficult to attack thereby, preventing it and enabling a secured domain controller, (DC) using best practices.

Sodiya also tasked government on the need to set up Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) for swift response to attack incidences.

According to him, “Government should set up a Computer Emergency Response Team in all government sectors for swift response to attack incidence, and also develop a multi-lingual attack reporting platform”.

“For proactive cybersecurity management, corporate organization and government should make sure that all connections to the network are known, documented, and monitored. And the intelligence of hackers must be harnessed by the government for the development of our nation”, he added.

Emphasising on the need for capacity development in mitigating the challenges of cyber attacks and ensuring adequate cybersecurity management, the University Don charged the Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta and some other institutions to support the creation of a College of Computing so as to develop the adequate manpower and expertise needed in the field of cybersecurity.

He also posited that procurement of security applications from reliable vendors would safeguard the system from attacks.

He recalled that over 12 million attacks were detected during the last general election in Nigeria which was mitigated by the cybersecurity experts in the country.

According to Sodiya, more hands are still needed in the area of cybersecurity. “We still need over 1 million IT experts alone in Africa and over 5 million cybersecurity experts are needed in the world, so we need to harness our skills in cybersecurity”, he maintained.

The University Don called on the Government and corporate organisations to address cybersecurity challenges to enable the country experience rapid digital transformation and sustainable national development.

Adesina Sodiya, a foremost Professor of Computer Science and Information Security in Nigeria and pioneer researcher in cybersecurity , identified machine learning and artificial intelligence as two technologies that could be used to develop proactive cybersecurity solutions, as well as help to mitigate risk and reduce hazards.

Speaking on the title of the Lecture, Prof.Sodiya informed that “Muddy waters represents the unstable and multifunction techniques used by cybercriminals in targeting their objects, hence understanding the attacker’s tactics, motivations and the potential impacts is essential for organisations to bolster their defense and safeguard sensitive information”.

Prof Sodiya acknowledged that though security experts and researchers are fighting hard, there is need for new proactive and robust approaches. in his words, ; “we all need to wake up and shine our eyes”.

Explaining the reason for continous attacks on Information Technology infrastructure, the Don stated that cybersecurity experts have continued to witness tremendous revolution because attack landscape is ever changing and attackers will continue to adopt new sophisticated tactics and approach.

The Inaugural Lecturer pointed out that winning the cybersecurity game requires adopting coordinated, dynamic, novel, multi-level, multi-form, mulfi-appraoch, multi-tactics and multi-tiered strategies, that requires every of the players to be smart and highly skillful to be able to win the ‘rofo-rofo’ game of the cyberworld.

In his recommendations, Prof.Sodiya beckoned on government and corporate organisations to; ensure all connections to the network are known, documented and monitored; ensure efficient access control system, implement trusted and efficient intrusion prevention and detection systems, among others.

The 80th Inaugural Lecture also appealed to individuals to; practice password safety, enable automatic software updates, review privacy settings, enable two-factor authentication and develop a multi -lingual attack reporting platforms.

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Earlier in his Opening Remarks, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Olusola Babatunde Kehinde represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Development (DVCD), Prof Kola Adebayo described the Inaugural Lecturer as a scholar per excellence who has proved himself worthy in his chosen field.

He commended him for his immense contributions to the development of the University and the nation at large.