The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has unveiled an incident response facility aimed at tackling rising cases of cyber criminality. The facility would help in providing strategies to address the vandalism of telecoms infrastructure across the country.
In a statement to BusinessDay, the commission noted that opening the facility aligns with the objectives of the National Cyber Security Policy and Strategy (NCPS) published by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
The NCPS expects every sector of the Nigerian economy to institute a computer incident response team to provide vital services to the operators in those sectors.
Isa Ali Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy who stated this in a statement also described the center as a strategic step towards boosting cyber security in Nigeria.
“The commission recognises that with the borderless nature and pervasiveness of these incidences, relentless and concerted attention is required to protect internet users as well as the critical national information infrastructure and ensure they are resilient,” Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman of NCC said.
Read also: NCC denies disqualifying Nigerians below from getting SIM
He also noted that the objectives of the Computer Incident Response Team (CSIRT), a product of the ONSA, will be achieved through the collective efforts of stakeholders, organisations, and agencies. the key mandates of the CSIRT include assisting the sector in the defence and response to major cyber threats and attacks targeted at the members within the sector, providing information, technical as well as policy advisories to the constituency to strengthen the defensive and response capabilities to cyber threats.
The overall mandate of the NCC-CSIRT is to ensure the continuous improvement of communication framework to guarantee secured exchange and timely information while responding to cyber threats within the sector.
The NCC centre is also to work with other sectoral CSIRTs as well as international and local security frameworks to protect the communication sector and the general wellbeing of the Nigerian people.
