From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, Monday, disclosed that a new malware is released every 4.6 seconds globally to compromise the cyber space and generated data.
The Minister therefore, called for a global approach to tackling the menace of cybercrime as the need for datafication takes the lead among global economies.
According to a statement by his Spokesperson, Uwa Suleiman, Pantami made the call while addressing the Forum of technology ministers at the Future Tech Forum in London.
The Minister who spoke on The Future of the Internet: Trends and Opportunities, said, “Datafication is inevitable. Therefore, we must place the same importance on cybersecurity especially considering that a new malware is released every 4.6 seconds globally to compromise the cyber space and inevitably, generated data.
“There is a clear indication that in the wake of the pandemic, the rate of cyber crime increased significantly due to an increased online presence. It is therefore necessary to give the same emphasis, priority and preference to the issue of cyber security”.
He advocated the need for an international approach to cybersecurity as against the existing regional or national approach noting that “with cloud computing and cloud devices, national or regional regulation of data could be less relevant because as obtains in many situations, data may not be domiciled within a sovereign nation therefore border restrictions do not apply and are not respected.
The Minister emphasised that datafication was on a significant rise and will continue to do so, adding that there was the need for governments to prioritise the protection and judicious use of data. This, he revealed, motivated him to author “The Datafication Of Society to Foster an Internet Economy”.
“The need for the collection of data is increasing daily and will continue to do so at a significant pace. According to research, from the dawn of civilisation to the early 2000s, only five exabytes of data was collected. Today however, approximately 2.5 exabytes of data is collected within 24 hours. By implication, the amount of data generated and collected within 48 hours today, is the same as that which was generated and collected over five thousand years before. Again, research by the International Data Corporation has indicated that in the next four years, 41.6 billion Internet of Things (IoT) devices could be connected and interconnected and these devices are expected to generated around 79.6 billion petabytes of data” He noted.