Cyber Crime In Nigeria And The Business Cycle
In modern business discussion, one of the things often discussed is the increase in internet scams also known as cyber crime. It has become alarmingly worrisome to most big business that depend on the internet in running their day to day activities
One can actually argue that security threat became a thing when most businesses adopted the use internet due to the efficiency.
The acceptance of business via the internet has either help the growth of most businesses or crashed the business due to cyber crimes. In the Nigerian business cycle the trend is also the same, these criminal elements have different tricks they use in trapping their victims, the common amongst these tricks is the use of emails, while some spam you page others use identity theft as their scheme, the commonly used trick is the either the electronic mail scam or hacking.
The Nigerian business environment has so far been threatened with the rapid increase in cyber crimes the last few years, this is because cyber crime cases in Nigeria has increased significantly. Recently Automated Teller Machine (ATM) spoofing and phishing has made most banks to take their cyber security a little more serious. It is estimated that banks have lost over 5 billion naira to ATM spoofing.
Effect Of Cyber Crime In Nigeria
Cyber crime knows no boundary as it has become a menace to the society, not just the business world but also individual, that is to say that banks are not the only victims of this terrible act, this is why the Nigerian government established the (EFCC) economic and financial crimes commission in 2003. Although the commission was initially tasked with fight against money laundering, however, due to the level at which cyber crimes has evolved over the years, the agency has also jointed in the fight against cyber crimes such as was mention earlier. It is because the government is willing to overlook that is why the government established agencies such as the EFCC and the ICPC.
Small Business And Cyber Attacks
Much more like the big businesses, small business has also suffered the same fate if not worst in terms of cyber crimes, since most business (most especially small businesses) depend on gadgets like the laptops and phones, this are medium where a business or an individual can be scammed.
Type Of Cyber Crimes In Nigeria
There are various type of cyber crimes punishable by law in Nigeria, below are a few of those;
Cybercrimes against Individuals – Individuals are always on the top of the food chain when it comes to crimes of this nature, it ranges in different form, from credit card fraud to electronic mail phishing, spoofing identity theft, cyber harassment which is most common due to social media, and then stalking which in most cases leads to trafficking, murder.
Cybercrime Against Government – Recently it was rumored that a hacker hacked into the NIHS data base in other to secure information on Nigerian citizens, not sure how true that information is but that is an example of cyber crimes against the government, it could be terrorism, cyber warfare like we have had between the United States, China and Russia for years.
Cybercrime on Property – I believe this is the most common type of crime we have now, this type of crime affects most creative people, from writers, actors, singers etc. Here we encounter copyright infringements on intellectual properties, although we have agencies that address such crimes, agencies such as IPR (Intellectual Property Right).
In conclusion, there is however, a cybercrime prohibition and prevention act of 2015, which make provision for legal framework to prosecute and punish cybercrimes in Nigeria.