Auditors raise the alarm as cyber fraud hits N25bn

By BUKOLA LONGE

The Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Auditors of Nigeria (CIFIAN), has raised the alert over N25 billion cyber fraud recorded in the nation’s financial institution in the last five years.

Pro-tem President of CIFIAN, Dr Victoria Enape, expressed concern over the increased volume of financial frauds in the country.

She said CIFIAN was worried about the development, which is inimical to the development of any country, warning that: “If nothing is done about it now, the future generation will have nothing to fall back on.

“Nigerian Nigeria- map Tasking the newly inducted members, she said: “We are commissioning all members to go and be good ambassadors of CIFIAN in their various organisations to ensure that jointly we prevent fraud, corruption and cyber-crimes in Nigeria and stop further loss of billions of naira as being recorded in the last five years.

“As you are aware, the recorded fraud volume in Nigeria financial institution due to cyber increased dramatically to about N25 billion in the past five years.”

On the organisation, she said: “CIFIAN is saddled with the responsibility of providing skills to professionals from relevant fields on the use of scientific and technology to detect, prevent and investigate fraud no matter how small or big and also put in place some sophisticated mechanisms to prevent future occurrence.

“Therefore, CIFIAN membership cuts across other professions like law, criminology, economics, psychology, police detectives, etc.”

Enape, who said the Bill to establish CIFIAN was passed by the Senate on July 5, 2018, wondered why the House of Representatives failed to concur with the passage of the bill close to a year after.

Meanwhile, security experts have said that the activities of cyber criminals are inimical to the wellbeing of nation if unchecked. They maintained that Nigeria as a country is at risk of cyber terrorism and needs urgent framework including laws to stave off premeditated, politically motivated attacks against government, institutions, information and computer systems in the country.

According to them, the intention of a cyber terrorism attack could range from economic disruption through the interruption of financial activities to upheavals.

A cyber security expert, Tony Ogbonna, said that cyber terrorists are also threatening banking and telecommunications institutions and that their illegal activities have far reaching consequences on the economy.

“Cyber terrorism has continued largely because terrorists are known to be passionate about accomplishing their goals, and are often willing to lose their own lives to accomplish massive destruction while experts/professionals who could counter them cannot keep up with them” he added.

Waxing worriedly, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said that the National Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) will soon be established, to curb cybercrime.

The Xxecutive Vice Chairman, NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said that the provision of CERT was to ensure efficient response to security incidents within the cyberspace.

He said that CERT was essential to monitor and deter threats that could exploit information system vulnerabilities.

According to him, NCC must be in the forefront in ensuring that telecommunications networks are secure enough to ensure Nigerians who want to subscribe to the telecommunication services do so without any fear of their security or privacy being violated.

Nodding in agreement, Chris Uwaje, director general, Delta State Innovation Hub (DS-IHUB), said Nigeria needs home grown solutions to tackle the menace.

“Nigeria must use locally developed solution to free the country from digital slavery of the foreign nations. For a digital Nigeria, this conference is a wake-up call as time is already running out” Uwaje added.