Nigeria hosts cybercrime conference

According to Microsoft's SecuritySecurity Intelligence Report volume 9, advance fee fraud accounted for 8.6 percent of the spam messages blocked by Microsoft Forefront Online Protection for Exchange in the second quarter of 2010. Alles zu Security auf CIO.de

"Microsoft is committed not only to protecting Internet users from scammers and cybercriminals, but to working with West Africa to combat this problem. We believe this summit is a great opportunity to fight advance fee fraud and help challenge existing attitudes about fraud," added Umar-Ajijola.

While the Nigerian government has enacted legislation against cybercrime, criminals have found allies in other neighboring countries, and the perception that the scams can provide quick returns has motivated more people to venture in. This has been one of the challenges facing Nigerian authorities.

"Part of the solution involves building the capacity of law enforcement. That takes money: budget for travel, training, equipment and retaining staff after training," said Steve Santorelli, director of global outreach at Team Cymru. "There is no silver bullet, each country needs a tailored approach based on their culture and specific issues that involves police, regulators, industry, consumer groups and end users."

Santorelli feels that the Nigerian government has demonstrated that it has put in place policies to combat cybercrime, but added that Nigeria's reputation as a major source of cybercrime will persist for some time.