Exploit Technology To Promote National Security, NSA Tasks Military, Others

The National Security Adviser (NSA) retired Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno has urged the armed forces of Nigeria and other security agencies to exploit more cyber technology in their quest to safeguard national security.

Monguno made the call at the Defence Space Administration (DSA) Cyber Security Awareness Day 2021 with the theme, “Developing Cyber Capabilities for the Enhancement of Armed Forces of Nigeria Operations and National Security” on Thursday, in Abuja.

The NSA was represented by the Director, Policy and Strategy, Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Amb. Aminu Lawal.

He said that Nigeria, like several other countries across the globe, was currently witnessing a surge in digital transformation, with many new activities migrating to the internet, especially with the advent of the coronavirus pandemic.

NSA stated that Nigeria’s cyberspace had become a center stage for new business innovations, governance, and social interactions.

He said that the trend had created an opportunity for the government to redefine its national objectives and address some of the major developmental challenges currently facing the country, including the emergence of new forms of criminality and terrorism perpetrated through cyberspace.

According to him, the transformation is a vital priority for the armed forces and security agencies because of the enormous benefits they stand to derive from cyberspace.

“It is pertinent to note that digital transformation in the armed forces is no longer about innovation but is considered as culture because of the exponential rates of accepting technology and its dynamism.

“The use of cyberspace is increasingly impacting almost every aspect of our lives as a country and armed forces of the world exploit its benefits to transform their economies and operations.

“Also, cyberspace is fast evolving, creating technologies, dismantling barriers to commerce, security and allowing seamless communication across borders for people to collaborate and share information,” he said.

Monguno stated that cyberspace has been regarded as the fifth domain and newest theatre of warfare after land, sea, air, and space, adding that conflicts in cyberwar were rarely military-on-military because of its borderless nature.

He, however, said there was the need for the military through DSA in collaboration with ONSA to consolidate and redouble efforts for more resilient infrastructure, enhanced capacity against cyberattacks, and sustainable service delivery.

He commended DSA for organizing the event to discuss ways to create opportunities from the nation’s cyberspace for economic and operational planning.

Earlier, the Chief of Defence Space Administration (CDSA), Rear Adm. William Kayoda said that DSA had entrenched the value of space to support the operations of the armed forces, especially on how space systems infrastructure would apply to national critical functions.

Kayoda said the Administration had continued to provide resilient cyber security solutions in the protection of Nigeria’s cyberspace.

He said such were, especially, in the regulation, monitoring, vulnerabilities penetration assessment, testing, and mitigation exercise to safeguard military and other security agencies’ websites and servers.

He added that DSA also followed the trends to ensure cybersecurity maturity model certification was sustained in the understanding of latest requirements.

According to him, the global re-occurring supply chain attacks that are very destructive, especially malware and ransomware attacks call for adherence to developing and sustaining basic cyber security hygiene.

“Thus, the issue of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFAs), passwords, decryption, and other key management real-world physical access control mitigation for supply chain security are very essential.

“In the Nigeria security perimeters, Multi-Factor Authentication, system control, hygiene culture, training, enforcement, segmentation, control of routine networks, physical access at all times, collaborations, end source investigation amongst others in line with global best practices must be our priority.

“This is very relevant as the trust model for all devices has revealed the need for zero trust for machines due to vulnerabilities.

“Adherence to procedures, monitoring, reporting and policy compliance and enforcement devoid of complacency by cyber analysts, network administration and other end-users is important,” he said.

The CDSA disclosed that the cybersecurity awareness month was organized to increase sensitization efforts on models to mitigate cyber threats and build national cyber resilience to shape cyber security standards, particularly information sharing and identifying critical solutions for implementation at all government levels.

In his goodwill message, the Ministry of Defence retired Maj -Gen. Bashir Magashi commended DSA on its unrelenting efforts towards creating a robust indigenous space competence capable of producing and utilizing space assets to meet the operational requirements of the Nigerian armed forces.

Magashi said the awareness week was a critical step in addressing increasing cyberattacks on businesses and even the military.

He said that creating awareness of this menace was imperative especially with the drive for global connectivity, usage, the recent launch of the e-naira by the President, and the prevalence of more sophisticated cyber security attacks.

“No doubt, this exercise if sustained will go a long way in curbing new cyber threats and promote the proper use of social media.

“On this note, I urge the participants to take full advantage of this workshop and wish the DSA well in the pursuit of its mandate,” he said.