Olatunji Igbalajobi, an expert, says the advent of artificial intelligence into the cyber space has introduced new challenges in cybersecurity.

Speaking to journalists in an interview in Lagos on Sunday, the cybersecurity expert said the advancements in AI were good, but carried implications for the country.

He said artificial intelligence (AI)-powered fraud was projected to reach 350 billion between 2023 and 2027 globally.

Mr Igbalajobi, a member of the Board of Trustees, Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria (CSEAN), spoke about the implications of the growing knowledge and embrace of artificial intelligence around the world, with Nigeria not being left behind.

The expert said AI-driven attacks were more adaptable and could bypass traditional security measures. He added that this evolution in cybercrime tactics made defending against these threats more complex and demanding.

According to him, there are different methods of attacks within the AI application and environment, which include data poisoning attacks and model evasion attacks, among others.

“AI poisoning attack occurs when threat actors inject malicious or corrupted data into training data sets, aiming to cause the AI to produce inaccurate results.

“Model evasion attacks, on the other hand, when attackers feed the AI with contradictory examples in order to create inaccurate predictions,” he said.

He said this showed there was a need to prepare for what was coming, noting that lots of cyber attacks were on the way and if care was not taken, it would result in financial impacts.

The expert also noted that the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) had been calling the attention of organisations in the supply chain and manufacturing industry to consider cyber security an integral part of their organisations.

He explained that with this awareness, they were beginning to get info on how cyber attacks happened and how their industry could also be susceptible.

On reasons cybersecurity adoption was slow, he said Nigerians were more reactive than proactive, noting that most organisations waited to experience cyber attacks before doing the needful.

The expert noted that the cost of mitigating cyber attacks was usually outrageous, noting that companies ended up spending triple the amount that should have been used to prevent it.

Mr Igbalajobi also explained that the public-private partnership sector-driven collaboration was still not where it should be, saying that the country had some international partnerships with notable organisations worldwide, who were trying to invest in Nigeria’s cybersecurity.

The expert said these countries, which included the UK and U.S., among others, were trying to see the opportunities Nigeria and Africa at large could present in cybersecurity.

He urged the government to look into the area of limited funds, access to skill and technology, skilled workforce in terms of talent shortage, continuous training and infrastructural limitations to bridge the gap in cybersecurity.

According to him, there is no doubt that Nigeria has a growing alignment of expertise, but the challenge in the country is losing most cybersecurity experts to the Western world.

“Most of them opt to go abroad because the environment there is more competitive and favourable for the job.

“It is quite unfortunate that we are losing our experts to the global community,” Mr Igbalajobi said.

He added that the number of cybersecurity professionals leaving Nigeria would increase as long as the economic, political, and social situation in Nigeria did not improve.

The cyber security expert, however, said there was a good number of alignment with government regulatory agencies, such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Mr Igbalajobi noted that the regulation CBN had put in place had helped the financial sector to be on its toes and up-to-date in protecting its institutions with cyber security programmes.

Nigeria has been identified with having one of the lowest numbers of cybersecurity experts, signalling a pressing need for enhancing digital security within the nation.

According to a global report, as of 2023, Nigeria has a mere 8,352 professionals.

(NAN)