ABUJA, May 19 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian government on Friday called on stakeholders to be wary of looming cyber attacks as it issued an alert on the ransomware and other forms of internet attacks in the west African country.
Minister of Communications Adebayo Shittu told reporters here all hands must be on deck to tackle all forms of cyber attacks in the country, noting everyone, as well as organizations, was vulnerable to cyber criminals.
"Attacks will come against banks and other financial institutions, airlines, hospitals and what have you. It behooves on all agencies, companies, establishments to prepare ahead," Shittu said.
When they are prepared for, the damage to data would be minimal when such attacks occur, the official noted.
He said the thought that government was the one with the sole responsibility to prepare for such attacks was wrong, adding collaboration was key to combating any attack in the Nigerian cyberspace since even highly industrialized nations were not immune to such attacks.
Part of the intervention of the government to champion the fight against cyber crimes, according to the minister, was the passage of the Cyber Security Act by the Nigerian parliament two years ago.
The Nigerian Cybercrimes Act 2015 provides an effective, unified and comprehensive legal, regulatory and institutional framework for the prohibition, prevention, detection, prosecution and punishment of cybercriminals in Nigeria. Enditem
