The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Leadway Assurance, Mr Tunde Hassan-Odukale, has cautioned corporate business owners and governments on the overwhelming rise in cybersecurity risks.
Hassan-Odukale said, on Wednesday in Lagos, that crucial steps needed to be taken to mitigate the unprecedented risk attack.
He was reacting to a recent report by Kaspersky, a multinational cybersecurity and digital privacy company, which revealed that the number of backdoor computer malware recorded in the second quarter of 2022 increased significantly across sub-Sahara Africa’s leading economic powerhouses, like Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya, compared to the first quarter
According to the report, South Africa recorded a quarter-on-quarter increase of 140 per cent to 11,872 cases.
Nigeria’s rate rose by 83 per cent, recording 2,624 cases while in Kenya, the number of detections increased by 53 per cent to 10,300.
Hassan-Odukale noted that every organisation is at risk of the menace, as government agencies, non-government organisations (NGOs) and corporate businesses had all been affected by the rising waves of cybercrime in Africa.
“The evolution in digital innovations and the COVID-19 pandemic have inspired businesses, NGOs and government agencies to adopt technology-driven operations.
“Also, cloud computing, online capabilities and the Internet of Things (IoT), to drive superior production, operational efficiencies and service delivery.
“As significantly positive as these new migrations have been, they also exposed corporates and organisations to the realities of the growing activities of sophisticated cybercriminals.
“Recent findings indicated that enterprises with less than 200 employees lose an average of $2.5 million (over N1billon) to cyberattacks.
“These new threats have become critical financial risks to organisations,” he said.
According to him, every business and organisation must recognise that cyber-attacks are significant risks, irrespective of their size and industry and put in place a solid financial recovery plan should an exposure occur.
The managing director stated that the development inspired the design of the Leadway cyber-risk insurance policy.
He noted that while this risk management tool does not guarantee immunity from attacks, it guarantees respite by offsetting costs incurred during a cyber-related security breach.
He said this would ensure accelerated businesses recovery after being hit by attacks.
“Leadway cyber-risk insurance policy, backed by a team of vastly experienced cyber-security experts, provides first-party coverage and third-party liability risk cover, assuring organisations of the needed financial support as victims of cyber-attacks,” Hassan-Odukale said.