CYBERSECURITY AND FOOD SECURITY IN NIGERIA

Various regimes of government in Nigeria, both at the federal, state, and local levels, have explored models and measures to ensure food security in the country, realities on ground have left much to be desired; a school of thought has it that, perhaps sabotage in ICT, in a way of cyber offences in areas pertaining to the agricultural industry, have not been systemically investigated. Cyber threats is a growing global “pandemic” that is affecting every facet of our national lives. Businesses, individuals, and the government have lost reputation and/or finance as a result of well-coordinated cyber-crime. Studies show that hackers attack every 39 seconds, Nigeria is not immune to cyber-attacks on its people, its businesses, and its critical infrastructure, our country is facing an increase in cyber-attack due to the effect of Covid-19 pandemic and other unjustifiable reasons. The conflict across the country has lower agricultural engagement and has led to food security crises and its value chains. According to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”. Nigeria can attain food security amidst daunting challenges when the right practices are put in place by farmers, business owners and other stakeholders operating in the agriculture value chains.

Experts have advocated for Nigeria to adopt modern technologies for food security such as smart farm practices like the Internet of Things (IoT) and agricultural drones, will these alone curb our food shortage? Some agricultural value chains companies in Nigeria are already operating with Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) such as Industrial Control Systems (ICS) and improved technologies, yet the price of those produce are on the increase. Attack on industrial control systems relied upon to operate food production facilities has increased by 68% in recent times in Nigeria according to undisclosed reports. A cyber threat could disrupt internal systems and impede the security of crops and jeopardize the movement of food produce from point A to point B. These are targeted cybersecurity attacks to sabotage the efforts of businesses and cause more economic hardship in the nation. Staff that operates these ICS are not armed with the right cybersecurity awareness training and there is no existing security policy that guild work operation.

As Nigeria braces up for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) and digitization, we must factor cybersecurity in our design thinking for economic growth and food security. Confidentiality, integrity, and availability, otherwise known as CIA Triad is the cornerstone of any agro-food information security infrastructure. Access to confidential information must be secured with the highest level of security to avoid damage to suppliers, misuse, or to the business process. Strong encryption and other policies must be in place to prevent falsification of data to alter food production and processing (integrity) and raw materials and communication networks must be available and timely at all times. There must be periodic cybersecurity awareness and training for staff and the management’s willingness to promote information security best practices. Other measures that must be put in place include digital identity asset security, keeping your systems up-to-date, regular backup of data, robust disaster recovery plan, proper channel for incidence reporting, email and web security, optimized password policy, social media security, which all sum to form defense-in-depth (DiD).

Conventional security is good and needed so farmers and food supply chain can operate safely, it is noteworthy to say that it is not adequate for food security and sustainability. Cybersecurity encompasses conventional security, mathematically, information security plus conventional security births human-cyber-physical systems (HCPS) which is intelligent and in synchrony with the whole cybersecurity architecture, unlike a standalone conventional security architecture. The nitty-gritty is that if agricultural experts have no proper cybersecurity plan in place as highlighted above for farming, food processing, food distribution, for staff and customers, they are at a risk in the near future, we are all at risk, and our national security is at risk. Cybersecurity will lead to economic prosperity and food security for businesses and the nation at large. The time to act is now. #BeCyberSmart

About the Author

Jeremiah Osigbemhe Peter is the Information Security Director, Presence Secure. He is an Effective African Leader working with international NGOs, prominent is CSAAE. He is also working as a Technical Lead for National Identity Number enrollment as a Front End Partner. He has passion for securing our digital space; he is a researcher, a writer and an avid learner. Contact Jeremiah via LinkedIn or email [email protected]