As simple as this poser may look, cyber security risk is indeed, the crux of security issues and nightmare to business operators, at the moment, around the globe.
Speaking at the Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce June breakfast meeting on June 27 at Eko Hotel, John Anyanwu, Partner, Technology Advisory, KPMG Nigeria, explained that every living individual, government institution, multinational corporations and other business entity are exposed to cyber security risks.
Anyanwu, a certified security auditor, hinged his submission on the level of internet adoption by human and corporate organizations where “everything is connected,’ adding that likelihood of connecting the human body through chips is high.
At the meeting with a Theme “Managing Cyber Security Risk in Today’s Business Organizations,” Anyanwu explained the multifaceted nature of cyber security risk is such that Chief Executive officers in multinationals have had to resign as a result of lapses in the management of unpleasant developments especially when customers’ data get exposed to the wrong people. “Yahoo has millions of users and when users’ data got exposed, there was a serious reprimand. Nigeria is becoming exposed to cyber attack.”
As a remedy, Anyanwu stated, among other plethora of advice, that management must “be proactive, imbibe the spirit of continuous awareness creation and take threat identification very seriously,” even as he added that “companies should always prepare for attack” as no file is safe in the prevailing situation.
He also admonished stakeholders to avoid wholesome confidence that all is well by joining “cyber community” for the purpose of intelligence gathering and sharing.
He alluded to SWIFT’s experience where the company had to initiate “community of cyber operators” to fight cyber security threats after being hacked in 2015 and huge sum of money lost.
In a company, “once the cyber security aspect is right, assurance of peaceful regime for progressive business operations would be guaranteed,” he said.
KPMG, a tax, risk and audit service provider, through a combined multi-disciplinary approach with deep, practical industry knowledge in helping clients meet challenges and respond to opportunities, sponsored the June breakfast edition.