The need for the government to find a lasting solution to cybercrime and crimes related to social media space is a matter of urgency. With the covid-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown, cybercriminals are busy devising means of perpetuating their act. It is of utmost importance that the public and private sector must align to combat the crime.
According to the International institute of Security Studies (ISS), commercial banks in Nigeria lost a whopping N15 billion to electronic fraud and cybercrime. This loss was a 53% increase on the N2.37 billion loss recorded the previous year. According to the institute, over 17,600 bank customers and depositors lost N1.9 billion to the crime in 2018, a 55% rise from the previous year.
Also, in its 2020 report, the Consumer Awareness and Financial Enlightenment Initiative projected a US$6 trillion loss by 2030 to cybercrime within and outside the country. Deloitte, in its report also stated that financial institutions, corporate bodies, state agencies and individuals are increasingly being exposed to cyber-attacks and fraud with the use of disinformation, impersonation and phishing, that enable criminals to access computers, mobile devices and other intranet unnoticed to perpetrate crime.
The Deloitte report warned also that individuals who download COVID-19-related applications are also being tricked into downloading ransomeware disguised as legitimate applications.
In 2020, tech-giant, Google, claimed to have blocked more than 100 million phishing emails daily across the globe with over 10% of the mails related to COVID-19.
To combat such crimes and other related cybercrimes in the country, the Federal government through the Cybercrimes prohibition and prevention act 2015 that is aimed to reduce the country’s vulnerability to cyber-attacks empowers the president to designate certain computer systems, networks and information infrastructure of importance to nation security or the economy and social wellbeing of the citizens.
To ensure that cybercrimes and victims are lessened in 2021 and beyond, it is important that as the law pushes the responsibility of combating cybercrime to the financial institutions, they must therefore stand to their responsibility and protect the finances of their customers. Banks must therefore ensure that proper verification of customers carrying out electronic transactions is done to forestall fraud.
More also it is important that the fight against cybercrime should be a seamless partnership between the government and financial institutions. We urged that state security machineries should work with the commercial sector in reporting and apprehending perpetrators. We advise that there should be a joint taskforce between the public and the private sector to practically combat the menace.
In addition, in the private sector, effective collaboration between financial institutions and corporate organsiations would go a long way to tackle the crime.
