Nigeria has lost about
N129 billion to online identity theft, the Director General of the National
Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr. Peter Jack has said.
Dr. Jack made the
disclosure Wednesday, during the National Cybersecurity Policy Capacity
Workshop organised by Microsoft Nigeria in conjunction with the Office of the
National Security Adviser to the President in Abuja.
He explained that the
loss was incurred in the last 13 years from between 2000 to 2013 due to
defacement of about 2,175 websites across the country, including 585 of them
belonging different government agencies.
‘‘There has been a loss
of about N129bn in the last 13 years from 2000 to 2013 in terms of online scam
and identity theft due to defacement of different websites.
‘‘There is a recorded
2,175 websites that have been defaced in terms of web defacement, and among
them, 585 are actually government websites, including Lagos state government.
‘‘Also available is
range of possible attacks on external intrusion through copy rights
infringements and unethical IT practices by scammers all the way to insider
threats. This is in addition to some statistics of some infringements
perpetrated on various online identities.’’
On the contribution of
NITDA towards prevention of the Nigerian cyberspace, he stated that the agency
was able establish the NITDA’s CERT. NG centre to police the cyberspace.
He also disclosed that
ITDA was also able to monitor some activities during the last general elections
in the country but because of the absence of formal reporting framework, it was
difficult to share that information at that time.
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