After a new survey revealed that data breaches are top among the list of security concerns for Nigerian Chief Information Officers, CIOs, Microsoft Nigeria says it now has greater responsibility to help the country stem the tide. In a virtual meeting with journalists across Africa, Microsoft says part of its responsibilities is to provide not only awareness but solutions which will help countries and corporate organisations mitigate vulnerabilities and stem the tide of cyber threats. Country Manager for Microsoft Nigeria, Ola Williams, said: “The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic forced more people to learn, work, shop, bank and connect online than ever before. More devices, networks and connection points have resulted in the expansion of the threat surface, bringing the need for a robust security strategy to the fore. In fact, the FBI ranked Nigeria 16th among the country’s most affected by cybercrimes in 2020 “Security remains a major focus for Nigerian organisations with around 61 percent of companies prioritising endpoint security solutions as endpoints increasingly move beyond the enterprise core.
“Another 41 percent are implementing VPNs and virtual desktop infrastructure to secure remote workers. In line with the growing threat of phishing and ransomware, half of organisations are deploying identity and access management, IAM, solutions. Companies also face pressure from government regulators to ensure company, employee and customer data remains protected. The Nigerian Data Protection Regulation, NDPR, was brought into effect in October 2019 to regulate who can access and control personal data and help combat the growing threat of cybercrime. Despite this, just 12 percent of organisations feel they are fully compliant with Nigeria’s data protection regulations. Bad actors, however, have noticed that more data is being processed in the cloud and there’s been a noticeable increase in cyber attacks.
“There’s no doubt the risk landscape has become more complex, and while cybersecurity solutions have matured a great deal, threat actors are not idling. As organizations continue to pursue their digital transformation journey, security must be considered every step of the way to ensure a safer digital environment for all. For Microsoft, we now have a greater responsibility to protect help stem this tide and we are determined to do so” Williams said. The survey conducted by the IDC and commissioned by Microsoft, highlights the latest cloud security developments in Nigeria and stated that 72 percent of Nigerian organisations are increasing their spending on information security. Also, 21 percent of organisations use a combination of on premises and cloud solutions, even as that is set to grow to 41 percent over the next two years.
The research says that for Nigerian CIOs, the consequence of a possible security breach is their number one concern as they look to navigate an increasingly complex threat and regulatory landscape. The research reveals: “Spend on security solutions among companies are growing along with cloud adoption services. 72 percent of organisations in Nigeria have increased security budgets by 10 percent or more over the last few years. This is not only the result of accelerated cloud adoption levels, but also increased awareness of security in senior management and rising new threats. “The pace of enterprise-wide cloud adoption is rapidly increasing as business leaders look to ensure flexibility, agility and business continuity throughout their daily operations. Almost half of organisations 41 percent said they will be using a combination of on premises and cloud solutions in just two years’ time. Already, six percent of organisations prefer to use the cloud; and this number is expected to grow to eight percent over the next two years. This increased adoption speaks to the confidence companies have in cloud solutions as they prepare to navigate a post COVID-19 world,” according to the report.
