INTENSIFYING THE FIGHT AGAINST CYBERCRIME

We are pleased to announce that Macklemore Solutions and her partners will be holding a cybercrime summit at the University of Port Harcourt in the garden city of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Cybercrime is an umbrella that broadly includes criminal activities carried out with the computer such as identity theft, hacking, data and security breaches, phishing etc.

This event is designed to educate and inspire young people about the vast opportunities available in the legal tech industry. We aim to sensitize them about the importance of responsible technology use and to combat cybercrime.

Additionally, we plan to train 150 students in a free tech skill of their choice because Cybercrime has grown into an organized crime and profit-driven venture. Hence, the governments, businesses, organizations, and individuals need to exploit the positive energy of young minds to create wealth using the internet by introducing them to tech skills and monitoring their progressions.

Register:  https://feji.us/pueydw

One of the greatest business tools available today is the internet; it has turned the world into a global village and reduced it to the size of a single room by enabling commerce, communication, and even wealth creation from the comfort of one's own home. Unfortunately, though, there are many obstacles associated with the development of the internet and technology, which cast a negative light on a rational government or country.

Cybercrime has grown to a prevalent and pervasive menace globally of which Rivers State in not an exception, businesses, individuals and even governmental organizations are prey and victims of the resultant effect of cybercrime. Sadly enough, the perpetrators of this illicit act are predominantly youths.

Over the years, the State has been left to battle fraudulent activities like insecurity and cult related activities, pipeline vandalism, internet fraud, and romance with hard drugs, kidnappings, rape and robbery. The far-reaching consequences of these activities are grave, as it has led to underdevelopment because government is forced to channel available resources for development into managing crises and restoring damaged facilities.

Investments cannot thrive under these conditions and as such, investors are left with no option than to seek a safer environment for business. In the peak of these challenges, the youth resort to self-help in the wake of scarce and unavailable resources to meet basic needs.

Life has become more intriguing, thanks to the internet and technological advancements, but sadly, hackers have found new ways to breach this lovely place and wreak havoc. Ransomware attacks, hacking, virus distribution, identity theft, fraud, online harassment, phishing, and data breaches are just a few examples of the evil acts of cybercrime, it appears that even the complexity of software has made it more challenging to adequately verify the security of computer systems.

According reports from CISA and FBI, Basta ransomware affiliates alone breached over 500 organizations between April 2022 and May 2024 encrypting and stealing data from at least 12 out of 16 critical infrastructure sectors which include healthcare organizations in places like North America, Europe, and Australia. Considering the far-reaching consequences of these activities which are grave, CISA released a draft rule for cyber incident reporting and recently launched a cyber incident reporting portal.

Despite these huge benefits associated with technology, cybercrime continues to be on the rise thereby threatening privacy, financial wellbeing and the overall stability of institutions. It has grown to a prevalent and pervasive menace globally as businesses, individuals and even governmental organizations have become prey and victims of the resultant effect of cybercrime.

THE FIGHT AGAINST CYBERCRIME

There are two categories of people who pose a threat to cyberspace, they are those who are already deep into the crime and those who are practicing or gradually walking their way into the world of cyber threats. urgent steps such as outlined below should be taken:

Organizations should utilize network segmentation; this involves the isolation of network into zones to limit the lateral movement of ransomware. It involves breaking of computer network into smaller or sub-networks which can be achieved either through firewalls, virtual local area networks (VLANs, subnetting, routers, or network virtualization.

Cybercrime has developed into a lucrative industry and organized crime. Therefore, it is imperative for governments, businesses, organizations, and individuals to harness the youthful energy of the internet to create wealth by teaching the youth computer skills and keeping track of their advancement.

There is the need for RE-ORIENTATION as it would be suicidal to introduce people to wealth or bring people to the cyberspace without proper education, this has a far-reaching consequence.

There should be collaboration with relevant authorities to review and strengthen existing legislation related to cybercrime. This collaboration should advocate for stricter penalties while also offering room for rehabilitation of offenders, also, there is the need for the improvement of the capabilities of law enforcement agencies.

All relevant agencies should prioritize even the simplest safety measures available and ensure nothing is left to chance and stay informed about the latest development in cyberspace.