AS part of measures towards enhancing cyber security within the institution, the Centre for Research Development and In-House Training (CREDIT), University of Ilorin, has organised a workshop on security intelligence for members of staff of the Computer Services and Information Technology (COMSIT) directorate as well as other experts and relevant stakeholders in the information technology sector of the university.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the five-day workshop, organised in collaboration with IBM West Africa Limited, the IBM University Relations Leader for West Africa, Mr Chinedu Onuoha, stressed the need for strong and resilient cyber security for data protection of the university’s broadband network.
Mr Onuoha observed that cyber threat posed a global challenge to all organisations, adding that with the proliferation of virtual threats such as the ransom-ware attacks, there was need to strengthen the network security infrastructure.
While noting that the issue of security cuts across all areas, the IBM official said, “The IBM system has never been hacked by anybody because of the system we have put in place.”
On application security, Mr. Onuoha explained that it is a tool for testing all applications and is capable of revealing areas of vulnerable loopholes where attacks could be launched to gain access to data or the website.
The IBM official said, “We can boast that nobody has hacked IBM system because we have in place tools like this. By the time this is put into practice, the University of Ilorin can sit back and say nobody can hack their system because all loopholes have been revealed, all the patches need to be put in place and the entire applications in the university secured.
“This is a growing community, and we have some exuberant youths who would want to try something funny; who would want to possibly amend their results,
change their information, but with tools like this, the network will secure that. People would hack, but will not be able to break in because all the loopholes have been revealed and covered.”
Noting that Africa, which has
a substantial youthful population, will have the highest workforce in the world by 2050, Mr. Onuoha pointed out that it is a massive potential workforce that could drive Africa’s development, just as China and India. He, however, argued that unless the youths are properly imbued with the relevant skills and training, the population could pose a major challenge.
Earlier during a courtesy visit to the vice chancellor, the IBM representative stated that “the University of Ilorin has a very big network that goes outside the campus and there are bound to be security issues; so, this course is to show us variability, loopholes and …apart from the knowledge gained, the aspect of hands-on experience in the industry is very key.”
Declaring the event opened, the vice chancellor, Professor AbdulGaniyu Ambali, represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics), Professor (Mrs) N. Y. S. Ijaiya, maintained that training is the “back-bone of the success of any organisation whether social or business organisations.”
In the address, entitled ‘Training and Retraining: Key to Organisational Success’, Professor Ijaiya, who is also the chairperson of the COMSIT management board, said “it is for these reasons and more that this present administration of Professor AbdulGaniyu Ambali makes training and retraining of staff a cornerstone of its policy and has been meritoriously implementing that part of its mission.”
In his own remarks, the acting director of COMSIT, Mr. A. Akingbade, said that the workshop was important to the COMSIT directorate, and that the IBM is a well established organisation which pioneered ICT development in Nigeria.