By Laolu Elijah, Ibadan
A cybersecurity expert, Dr Adebola Folorunso, has advised owners of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the country to use strong and reliable technological measures to protect their data from pervasive cyber crimes.
Folorunso said this while delivering a virtual lecture at a workshop on “Cybersecurity Best Practices for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)” organised by Knowledge Aid Initiative (KAI) in collaboration with Cyberspace Community Association of Nigeria in Ibadan.
She urged business owners to be proactive about cybersecurity practices in their businesses and not make it an afterthought in order not to fall victim to cyberattacks.
To avoid falling victim to cybercrime, the expert, who is the co-founder of Absolute Solution Technology, advised owners of SMEs to do regular risk assessments in order to identify and address vulnerabilities in their IT systems.
She also tasked them with engaging in regular employee training and updating software and hardware, among others.
Dr Folorunso noted that with the rate of cybercrime, business owners should endeavour to protect their systems, networks, and data from cybercrime, damage, or unauthorised access.
According to her, SMEs play a significant role in most economies and are key contributors to job creation and economic growth. They must therefore implement measures to prevent, detect, and respond to cyber threats.
Folorunso said this while delivering a virtual lecture at a workshop on “Cybersecurity Best Practices for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)” organised by Knowledge Aid Initiative (KAI) in collaboration with Cyberspace Community Association of Nigeria in Ibadan.
She urged business owners to be proactive about cybersecurity practices in their businesses and not make it an afterthought in order not to fall victim to cyberattacks.
To avoid falling victim to cybercrime, the expert, who is the co-founder of Absolute Solution Technology, advised owners of SMEs to do regular risk assessments in order to identify and address vulnerabilities in their IT systems.
She also tasked them with engaging in regular employee training and updating software and hardware, among others.
Dr Folorunso noted that with the rate of cybercrime, business owners should endeavour to protect their systems, networks, and data from cybercrime, damage, or unauthorised access.
According to her, SMEs play a significant role in most economies and are key contributors to job creation and economic growth. They must therefore implement measures to prevent, detect, and respond to cyber threats.
“One might mistakenly think that cyber attackers would only target large corporations or government agencies. However, the realities are quite contradictory.”
The expert said that cybersecurity was crucial for SMEs based on the high risk and potential impact of cyberattacks, which could result in financial losses, damage to brand reputation, and loss of customer trust.
Admitting that implementing effective cybersecurity measures could be challenging for SMEs owners due to a lack of financial resources to invest in advanced security measures or to hire dedicated cybersecurity staff, she added that various strategic measures could be taken by SMEs owners to improve their cybersecurity postures that would not require huge finances.
In addition, she pointed out that outdated systems are often targets for cyberattacks, and many cyberattacks leverage known vulnerabilities in software, some of which have been patched by the software vendors but not applied by the users.
The expert said that every organisation should try as much as possible to prevent, detect, and respond to cybersecurity in order to tackle cyber attacks and threats.
Ojo said that creating awareness on cybersecurity issues must be the responsibility of all and sundry for the good of society because attackers and scammers are not relaxing and are always full of different strategies.
She said that it was important for online business owners to implement necessary measures that would enable them to safeguard their businesses, earn customers’ trust, and prevent losses.
Leave a Reply