Ms Patricia Eromosele, President, Women in cyber security Nigeria (WiCyS), has warned that constant exposure to online scams underscores the urgent need for stronger awareness about digital space security.
She said the cyber space was evolving hence the need to make cyber protection more critical than ever.
“A very important point, especially in Africa, is that we are going to onboard 40 to 50 per cent of our youths in the next two to three years.
“We need our women and many other people to help protect them against cybercrime, scams and against fraud.
“We need people who are equipped educationally and based on awareness, skills and tools, and more other than women to support the workforce.
“We need women to support the workforce and that would also increase economic and social stability,” she said.
Speaking on women participation in cyber security, Eromosele said available figures indicated that women were increasingly contributing to create a safe cyberspace, particularly in non-technical areas.
“At the moment, there are varying statistics of women in cyber security. Cyber security has a very technical side as well as the non-technical side; it requires that everyone has to be part of it.
“A lot of women are part of the non-technical side and we are seeing an increase in that regard; we are also trying to encourage more women to be part of the very technical side,’’.
Eromosele described the current cyber threat landscape as an emergency, saying researches showed that many young people encounter scam attempts daily online.
According to her, recent a recent research in Africa, indicated that about 57 per cent of young people encounter scams every day.
“It does not mean that they are scammed but they encounter scam links or opportunities they think are job-related but they are not.
“There is an emergency that everyone needs to be aware and even if you are not someone who works in cyber security, you also need to know about things to protect yourself,” she said.
