With the growing rate of cybercrime and threats globally, Israel and Nigeria have met to discuss possible areas of cybersecurity collaboration between the two countries.
The director, Africa Department II, West and Central Africa, Barnea Hassid, made this known when he led a delegation made up of the Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Israel Abuja, Nadav Goren and Senior Economic Officer, Embassy of Israel, Florence Osuji, on a courtesy visit on the executive vice chairman/CEO of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
He told the NCC boss they were there to discuss areas of collaboration and interest to the commission, importantly cybersecurity and how to address issues of cyber crimes which result from convergence of Internet devices, hacking of online financial transactions and channels of electronic transactions, online impersonation and terrorism which utilizes internet to connect members globally. He said the Israeli embassy had met with the Nigerian Governors Forum and discussed matters of importance that required government’s attention and bilateral agreements between the countries.
Danbatta, while welcoming and commending the team for the bilateral relationship between Nigeria and Israel and call for collaboration in the areas of ICT said the commission would welcome any partnership to mitigate challenges of cyber crime, security and privacy matters in the app sector of the telecom ecosystem to address impersonations and safety nets to manage online media database.
He told his guests that one of the commission’s 8-Point Agenda is focused on facilitating broadband penetration and ensuring 30 per cent penetration by end of 2018.
Danbatta said this would bring unprecedented developments and growth in the telecom sector but would also produce challenges due to innovative applications that would require expertise and networks professionals to handle.
The Israeli embassy offered to provide training to staff of NCC tailored on the collaborative areas.