The CyberSecurity Experts Association of Nigeria (CSEAN) has urged the National Assembly
(NASS) to investigate the ongoing scandal of data-mining by Facebook and
Cambridge Analytica as revealed by a whistle-blower, Christopher Wylie, reports
ITRealms.
CSEAN also NASS
to as matter of urgency, enact data protection law, according to its President,
Mr. Remi Afon, at the weekend.
He told ITRealms that CSEAN is highly concerned at
the news that millions of Nigerians data were allegedly harvested from Facebook
and used in a targeted online campaign with the aim of influencing the outcome
of 2015 election.
He noted that Cambridge
Analytica, the analytics and marketing firm based in United Kingdom (UK) has
been implicated in this scandal that also involved allegation of hacking of
President Muhammadu Buhari’s email who was at that time the Presidential
Candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
The firm was
allegedly paid £2 million ($2.8 million) by an unnamed Nigerian billionaire to
“orchestrate a ferocious campaign” against President Muhammadu Buhari.
While it is now
becoming common to use data analytic software to perform targeted online
marketing campaign, CSEAN President noted that the recent revelation by Christopher
Wylie the whistle-blower and former research director for Cambridge Analytical,
is to say the least worrisome.
Wylie alleged
while testifying before a committee of British Parliament that an Israeli
company called Black Cube was engaged to hack private health data from
President Muhammadu Buhari email.
ITRealms gathered that Black Cube has
however debunked this assertion, while AggregateIQ (AIQ) a software development
firm based in Canada was said to have handled the hacked data and also
distributed threatening anti-Islamic videos that showed people’s throats being
cut in an effort to intimidate voters and dissuade Nigerians from voting during
the 2015 presidential election.
According to
Wylie the “AIQ was handed material about Nigeria from Cambridge Analytica to
distribute online - that is distribution of kompromat (compromising material)
and of incredibly threatening and violent video content,” AggregateIQ has meanwhile denied this
allegation.
CSEAN president,
equally noted that the Facebook Chief Executive Officer (CEO) has taken out a full-page
advert in some selected print media in the United States (US) and UK to
apologise for the Cambridge Analytica scandal but despite Nigeria being also a
victim of the misuse of data, no such apology has been tendered in Nigeria.
“Such is the
kind of treatment Nigeria has always received and will continue until we begin
to hold organisations accountable for personal data of Nigerians they hold.
While UK and US are busy investigating the key actors in this scandal, Nigeria
is yet to react officially,” he said.
In order to
continue to give Nigerian citizens assurance that their data will be managed
securely and safely by organisations that hold and process their personal data,
CSEAN therefore call on National Assembly as a matter of urgency to initiate
robust investigation of Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, AggregateIQ and Black
Cube to ascertain whether Nigerian Cyber Crime law has been breached and also
look at the present gaps in the law with the aim of enacting a strong data
protection law. As 2019 general election
is fast approaching, we will continue to witness online targeting using social
media to influence voters.
“The time has
come for the Federal Government to set up a Cyber Security Unit that will have
capability of defending government systems from cyber threats and provide
support to the existing security agencies in terms of cybersecurity
investigations,” he said.
CSEAN, Mr. Afon
said, has put together a technical session and table-top exercise during its forth coming Cyber Secure
Nigeria 2018 Conference scheduled to take place in Lagos on the 9-10th May 2018,
to discuss “Election Manipulation Using Social Media Data to target Nigerians
in 2019”.
A communique, he
said, will be issued at the end of the conference and shared with relevant
authorities, which has the theme for this year as “Mitigating Cyber Threats in
Digital Age”.
Chuks Egbune/GEE
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