Barely 12 years after the
Budapest Convention on Cyber Security was put to force, Nigeria, the most
populated black nation in the world may be foot-dragging over cyber security as
it has not extended request for accession of this important Treaty, reports ITRealms.
Secretary of the Cybercrime
Convention Committee (T-CY) Council of Europe Strasbourg, France, Alexander
Seger, disclosed this to ITRealms, explaining that an accession request would
lead to an invitation to accede.
He pointed out that once the
instrument of accession is then deposited Nigeria would become a Party and thus
be able to cooperate with other countries on the basis of this treaty.
Although, Mr. Seger expressed
optimism Nigeria would soon do the needful to bluster the nation’s cyber
security efforts to align with the global status.
“I understand that the Government
(of Nigeria) is considering an accession request,” he said expectedly.
ITRealms gathered that the
Convention was drawn up by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France in 2001
with the active participation of the Council of Europe's observer states like
Canada, Japan, South Africa and the United States.
Equally, ITRealms gathered that
the convention or treaty entered enforcement phase three years after the draft
was made on 1 July 2004, though as at time of filing this report, September 26,
2016, 49 states have ratified the
convention, even as six states had signed the convention awaiting ratification.
The Convention, ITRealms gathered
is the first international treaty on crimes committed via the Internet and
other computer networks, dealing particularly with infringements of copyright,
computer-related fraud, child pornography and violations of network security.
In addition, it contains a series of powers and procedures such as the search
of computer networks and interception.
Seger further listed some of the
benefits of the Convention for Africa to include increased trust and efficient
cooperation with other Parties, just as it would pave the way for participation
in future standard setting, enhanced trust by private sector, technical
assistance and capacity building to name a few.
Nigeria, ITRealms recalls only
had a Cyberlaw passed in 2015 with lots of flaws already noticed including the
reported fact that’s victims could be sanctioned to the tune of N2m for failure
to report cyber-attack on his or her systems or networks.
Recent reports revealed that the
Nigeria Cybercrime Act 2015 stated that “any person or institution, who
operates a computer system or a network, whether public or private, must
immediately inform the National Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT)
Coordination Center of any attacks, intrusions and other disruptions liable to
hinder the functioning of another computer system or network, so that the
National CERT can take the necessary measures to tackle the issues.”
Also, the sub-section 2 inter
alia stated “In such cases mentioned in subsection (1) above, and in order to
protect computer systems and networks, the National CERT Coordination Center
may propose the isolation of affected computer systems or network pending the
resolution of the issues.”
ITRealms further gathered that the
sub-section 3 of Section 21 stated “persons or institutions who are unable to
report such incidents in a space of 7 days commits an offence for denial of
Internet services and should pay ₦2 million into the National Cyber Security
Fund.”
Remmy Nweke with additional report by Nenye Dom/GEE
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