By Prince Osuagwu

Enterprise Division of IT solutions company Routelink Group, is carrying out sensitization programmes aimed at educating the public on how to avoid being victims of cyber criminals.

The programmes are also targeted towards mitigating cyberattacks on individuals, corporate or organizational levels.

Routelink says the effort is to promote resilience culture in cyberspace. At a virtual conference themed, ‘Building Resilience into Your Cybersecurity Strategy: A Step-by-Step Guide,’ recently, the firm brought together stakeholders to deliberate on ways to curb the menace of cybercrime.

Routelink Group is a dynamic and innovative technology conglomerate renowned for its diverse portfolio of subsidiary businesses in areas of enterprise IT solutions, fintech and telecommunications infrastructure.

Group Managing Director/CEO of the company, Femi Adeoti, said that cyber threats are real as they affect organisations and individuals as well as national entities, hence the need for adequate protection against attacks.

He added that “Hackers take over the database of companies, thus making the need for good governance and other strategies to curb the menace very necessary. Many Nigerians are not aware of the dangers lurking online, and there is utmost need to educate and increase the awareness on cybersecurity, so that individuals and organisations can be empowered to take the necessary precautions to protect themselves from cyber threats”

 According to him, “Cyber criminals are getting more intelligent. It’s a global thing, we have deep web and dark web which is not known to normal internet users but these are created to pass across information. People sell information on the dark web and they create malware to hack systems globally. Criminals leverage on technology, artificial intelligence and machine learning.’’

Citing an incident sometime in August last year when many LinkedIn accounts were compromised, he said, “It took almost more than six weeks to resolve the issue. During this period, even those without compromised accounts had trouble accessing their accounts.”

He advised members of the public to take responsibility for protecting themselves reiterating that people are the weakest link for cybersecurity. “No organisation will ask for your personal details, so don’t give it out – limit the amount of personal details you give out. A chain is as strong as its weakest link. Protect yourselves so you don’t suffer losses,’’ he said.