Following the dynamics in both the sophistication of production and tempo of usage of digital products and the attendant susceptibility of consumers to fraud in electronic transactions, the Nigerian Communications Commission organised a workshop at the Digital Bridge Institute, Kano Campus to address the challenges of electronic fraud such as hacking and associated intrusions in e-commerce and other interactions in the cyberspace.
The team of resource persons from NCC led by Ubale Maska, the Executive Commissioner Technical Services, and comprising Alhassan Haru, Director New Media and Information Security; and Bako Wakil, Deputy Director Technical Services among others, highlighted the costs of electronic fraud to the nation's economy and individuals; and discussed in their presentations steps taken by NCC in collaboration with other relevant agencies and stakeholders to check activities of fraudsters and other threats in order to reduce vulnerabilities in the cyber space. They also discussed the global nature of the phenomenon as well as its dynamics which makes it very challenging to tackle the occurrences with a single solution.
Other participants also shared different perspectives on challenges of fraudulent practices in the cyberspace. Oluwasaye Oyelowo of the Regulatory Affairs division of MTN Nigeria also made a presentation on strategies deployed by MTN to ensure that the risk of e-fraud is reduced. Among these is the company's practice of sending individuals SMS at the point of SIM swap request to alert a subscriber that his or her SIM is about to be swapped.
The National Coordinator of WASPAN also made a presentation on “Balancing the Rewards of the Mobile Financial Ecosystems” in which he advised banks and other financial systems as well as individuals who use telecom infrastructure to be more proactive in securing the integrity of their financial operating systems.
The workshop which enjoyed a fruitful and lively discourse ended with a question and answer session where key and tangential issues connected to the topic of the workshop were perceptively discussed.