STEPS FOR DEVELOPMENT CyberSafe Foundation’s initiatives include programmes like #NoGoFallMaga (nogofallmaga. org), educating young people in Staveley’s native Nigeria about the dangers of cyberfraud, including email deception, phone-based scams and online crime – particularly where cybercriminals impersonate trusted organisations. It includes video and audio content, in-person events and education. NoGoFallMaga particularly addresses social engineering attacks, which are common in many parts of Africa. In the context of cybersecurity, social engineering is the manipulation of people to get them to unknowingly hand over something of value. Phishing, smishing and vishing are some of the most widely known examples, in which the attack is a message (email, text and voice call, respectively) pretending to be from a trusted source, triggering the victim to give up valuable information. The Foundation’s work in providing support to vulnerable populations also includes helping senior citizens, who are likely to have minimal experience with digital technology, and giving them an understanding of basic cyber-hygiene, as well as young children. The website also offers a ‘Bank of Scams’ library of articles, describing the latest social engineering in detail. These include everything
his is my livelihood. Help me. This is my livelihood.” Just one of the pleas CyberSafe Foundation’s Confidence Staveley has heard from cybercrime victims in the past
month. Staveley started coding as a teenager, and became interested in cybersecurity when learning about encryption during her master ’s degree. She is now a consultant and leading figure in raising cyber awareness across the African continent – and was a finalist for the Inteligenca Cybersecurity Woman of the Year Award. Most small- to medium-sized African businesses are not likely to have multiple layers of digital infrastructure that the global north takes for granted. If a European business finds their site or service taken down, teams might deploy to fix the problem, backup systems are available on the cloud, alternative workflows can be implemented and lawyers called. For an African company, a cyberattack might mean the end of the road. “There are small businesses that rely solely on Instagram to sell their products and services to thousands of followers,” Staveley explains. “If their account is hijacked, that business, with thousands of followers, can suddenly be brought down to nothing. A hack can literally take away someone’s livelihood.” Staveley established the CyberSafe Foundation to fill the gap in public education about cybersecurity in Africa. Headquartered in Nigeria, the NGO focuses especially on protecting the most vulnerable individuals and businesses. Digital connectivity – driven largely by mobile – is growing in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2020, according to a study by GSMA, 28% of the population was connected to the internet via mobile, but this number is set to steadily increase. As it does, so will the attack surface for cybercrime. “We’ve found that small businesses don’t have the people, processes or technology to protect themselves. Some had no cybersecurity measures at all.”
THE NEXT GENERATION CyberGirls helps young women aged 15-21 develop a grounding in cybersecurity, as well practical technical and business skills
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