Cybersecurity experts have challenged businesses in Nigeria and across Africa to build an organisation culture where everyone is conscious of cyber threats. The experts who spoke at a webinar organized by Appknox and CED Technologies, said with the increasing rate of attacks on businesses, cybersecurity is now beyond the function of a section but a culture to be imbibed by all members of every organisation.
Specifically, the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at FirstBank, Harrison Nnaji, said cybersecurity should now become part of day-to-day activities of every organisation as a single security breach could ruin the entire organisation.
Speaking at the webinar themed: “How an Insecure Mobile App Can Tarnish Your Company’s Reputation” he added that in releasing products or services to the market, the key consideration is no longer about functionality, but security because if such product/service is not secure, it would be a trap for the users and damage the reputation of the organisation.
What they are saying
Speaking at the virtual event, the Co-founder and CEO of AppKnox, Harshit Agarwal, noted that the essence of the webinar was to encourage developers, security researchers, and enterprises to build safe and secure mobile applications.
- “We want to encourage more African Organisations to make a cultural shift from DevOps to DevSecOps by using best-in-class technology,” he said, adding that Appknox approaches security testing with an automated vulnerability assessment which includes Static, Dynamic and API testing combined with manual penetration testing to ensure security is addressed all-round.
- Also speaking at the webinar, Mr. Chukwuebuka Ume-Ezeoke, the Chief Technology Officer of CED Technologies, a design technology company that connects businesses with the highest-rated and vetted software solutions in Africa, advised that as organisations – big or small, it is important that everyone practices a healthy cyber environment as they provide best-in-class mobile apps for their users.
- “We’re trying to make organisations notice the cultural shifts from DevOps to DevSecOps. DevSecOps is what organisations in Africa mostly need to start looking forward to. This needs to be added to companies’ policies.
- “They also need to add security policies in terms of how they go about when they are taking on new projects or new products. What are the securities in place? What are the securities that have been tried and how are they going to mitigate any challenges that they actually face? So that is something that has to be put out there making that cultural shift from DevOps to DevSecOps,” he said.
DevOps is the combination of cultural philosophies, practices, and tools that increases an organization’s ability to deliver applications and services at high velocity, while DevSecOps is the seamless integration of security testing and protection throughout the software development and deployment lifecycle.
