By RICHARD UDOFIA

The Executive Vice Chairman, Nigeria Communications commission, NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah has advocated for a clean cyberspace in the country so as to prepare ground for more Foreign Direct Investments, FDI into the country.

Juwah spoke at a cybersecurity forum  organized by the Office of the National Security Adviser in Lagos.

According to him, capacity building in the area of cybersecurity is necessary for development of a sustainable and proactive national cybersecurity culture.

He said that was the reason the commission implemented the open access model for deployment of broadband services in the country.

He admitted that the cyberspace has become an integral part of modern information society, vast amount of information is available in different formats for end users globally.

He noted that because of this,fraud, theft and forgery exist online just as they are prevalent on normal daily activity, warning that  if users are to benefit from full advantages on the internet, there is need for building confidence in the information infrastructure as primary and utmost importance.

He stressed that cyber threats like malware, cyber harassment, Child molestation, spoofing, phising, spam, pharming, viruses, Trojans, worms child online phonograph and spyware are becoming extremely sophisticated that it takes users with indepth knowledge and skill to manipulate the system.

However, he said that the internet has long ceased from being the exclusive domain of the technically savvy users, to include all type of users including novices and even children.

He however added that: “The internet is a borderless communication tool and consequently, any solution to secure it must involve global collaboration. Loopholes in legal framework are being exploited by perpetuators as harmonization between existing laws across nations is far from being satisfactory.”

With the phenomenal growth in the use and application of ICTs and new trends such as cloud computing and virtualization, it is increasingly likely that cyber threats will also spread to new bounds.

Explaining how the commission has been combating cybercrimes in line with global regulatory best practices, Juwah said the NCC, created a new department “New media and information strategy”, about three years ago. The department is responsible for all issues of information security and capacity building in information technology through the accelerated digital awareness program for tertiary institutions, ADAPTI, program. This commission was fully involved in the formulation of the national cyber security bill and other similar initiatives, coordinated by the office of the national security adviser.

In addition to capacity building, NCC has improved on its equipment Authorization Process through which security loopholes in telecoms hardware and software are checkmated. It therefore ensures that security standards are fully implemented by manufacturers in the design and fabrication stage of all telecoms equipment imported into the country.

There is need for collaborative effort by relevant government agencies towards the implementation of domain name system security extension (DNSSEC) on the top level of domain name system in other to address identified vulnerability of the DNS system.

“This DNSSEC provides an additional level of security that can strengthen trust in the internet by helping to protect browsers from redirection to fraudulent websites through effective integrity and authenticity checks on DNS protocols.”