NCC Raises Alarm Over AI-Powered Cyber Threats to Telecoms, Banking Sector

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has warned that the growing use of synthetic intelligence by cybercriminals poses critical dangers to Nigeria’s telecommunications infrastructure, banking system and nationwide safety.

Speaking on the second International Cybersecurity Conference in Abuja on Tuesday, the Executive Vice-Chairman of the NCC, Dr Aminu Maida, mentioned cybercriminals are more and more deploying refined AI-driven instruments to launch assaults able to compromising digital networks and monetary programs.

Represented by the NCC’s Executive Commissioner for Technical Services, Sunday Oshadami, Maida famous that rising threats now embrace personalised AI-powered phishing schemes, automated credential assaults, deepfake expertise designed to defeat multi-factor authentication, and self-modifying malware that may evade conventional safety measures.

According to him, the telecommunications sector has develop into the spine of Nigeria’s digital economic system, facilitating banking transactions, enterprise operations, public providers and on a regular basis communications.

He warned that assaults focusing on telecom operators might have far-reaching penalties throughout crucial sectors of the economic system.

“An attack on a telecom provider is an attack on the financial sector, national defence and civil governance,” he mentioned. Maida defined that synthetic intelligence has considerably remodeled the cybercrime panorama by enabling attackers to determine vulnerabilities and execute operations at speeds past the potential of standard safety programs to detect and reply.

“We are no longer defending against human hackers operating at human speed; we are confronting machine-learning systems operating at microsecond computational speed,” he said.

To illustrate the rising sophistication of cyber threats, he cited current cyber incidents globally, together with assaults on grocery store refrigeration programs in France and spyware and adware campaigns focusing on journalists and media professionals within the Middle East.

The NCC boss mentioned the Federal Government’s designation of telecommunications infrastructure as Critical National Information Infrastructure underscores the significance of securing networks in opposition to evolving cyber threats.

He revealed that the fee has established a Computer Security Incident Response Team to observe threats, coordinate intelligence sharing and implement incident reporting throughout the trade. In addition, he disclosed that the NCC has launched a Cyber Resilience Framework geared toward setting minimal cybersecurity requirements for licensed telecommunications operators.

Maida urged telecom corporations to undertake zero-trust safety architectures, recurrently audit AI programs for vulnerabilities and construct resilient networks able to recovering shortly from assaults.

Also talking on the convention, Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Abdullahi, mentioned cybercriminals are more and more exploiting human weaknesses moderately than focusing on expertise alone.

Abdullahi disclosed that NITDA is working with the Office of the National Security Adviser and the National Assembly to evaluate Nigeria’s Cybercrime Act and develop a stronger nationwide cybersecurity structure.

Similarly, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, represented by Director of Public Prosecutions Rotimi Oyedepo, mentioned efforts are underway to introduce legislative reforms to sort out rising cyber threats whereas bettering the administration of digital proof and cybercrime prosecutions.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on ICT and Cybersecurity, Senator Shuaib Salisu, known as for the creation of a nationwide cybersecurity resilience index to measure the preparedness of organisations in opposition to cyberattacks. He additionally emphasised the necessity for stronger collaboration amongst authorities establishments and enhanced regional cooperation to strengthen Nigeria’s digital safety framework.

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