Minister of State for Defence, Mrs. Olusola Obada 

Senator Iroegbu 

The Minister of State for Defence, Mrs. Olusola Obada has called on security agencies and stakeholders in the  country  to develop the ability to detect and tackle cyber crimes.

Obada  made this call Tuesday at the two days  World Cyber Security Conference 2012 organised by the Defence Headquarters (DHQ)  in collaboration with New Horizons Systems Solutions.

The minister who was represented by the Director Navy, Ministry of Defence, Mr. Abiodun Salami noted that the theme of the conference; ``Exploiting the Cyber and Space Resources to meet Contemporary  Security Challenges ‘’, was timely in view of the prevalent cyber and security challenges facing nations in general and Nigeria in particular.

She explained that it was incumbent on the security agencies to develop and enhance their capabilities to discern and identify warnings of hostile actions in space, for necessary passage of same to appropriate authorities.

``As the tools and techniques developed by cyber criminals continue to become more sophisticated, it is imperative that we also continue to develop the ability to detect and respond and timely too, to these threats and intrusions, while increasing the cost to the attacker”, she said.

She emphasized that the ability to track objects in space and monitor own spacecraft was vital, adding that this was to enable the authorities take informed decisions and take appropriate mitigation measures or response.

She said: “Space and cyber situational awareness are therefore essential to reducing mishaps, Misperceptions and mistrust.

“It is equally important to note internet access from various platforms has brought tremendous opportunities and challenges on the effective use of these information communication technologies”.