Greed, Lack Of Digital Literacy Responsible For Increasing Hacked Accounts

By Solomon Odeniyi

The National Coordinator, Digital Literacy Advocacy Club, Olanrewaju Oyedeji has attributed greed and lack of digital literacy among users as the major reasons why a lot of social media accounts are being hacked.

Of recent, there have been upsurge in the number of various accounts being hacked in the country.

But Oyedeji, in an exclusive interview with OSUN DEFENDER stated that many of the people who fell victim of account hacking wanted to get quick money without confirming its source, while few did because of their lack of digital literacy.

Oyedeji said:  “Cyber Security system around the world needs to be beefed up. Also, lack of proper orientation on the management of various platforms by users is a factor. Lack of enough carefulness by users remains very saddening. For instance, many persons leave their passwords open after logging into their social media platforms from other person’s account.

“Use of outdated windows also causes this. The world is going more digital; and relying on internet, so it is not least expected.

“However, many who fall prey to hackers become victims through greed, which is of two types.  There is one caused by poor economy and that of human greed which is a factor here. These are people wanting to get money quickly and with least opportunities. With this, they put themselves at risk by giving out codes they should not be giving out for any purpose without verifying the authenticity of the destination.

“Part of the reasons for this is poverty and decline in economy.  But you end up asking questions like: ‘why do people with such skill result to doing it criminally?’ It is the system and the orientation that you must be a crook to explore your knowledge. Even, if we had a better economy, hackers will still exist. We have it in other countries that are even more developed.”

He urged Nigerians to always verify websites before visiting.

Oyedeji added: “People need to understand how to verify platforms. NITDA for instance has official channels, banks have official channels, any corporate or government agency has official channels, so it is about people knowing this.

“They should look out for information only from websites of organisations and social media platforms too.”

According to him, the menace cannot be totally eradicated, adding that only constant enlightenment could help reduce it to the barest minimum.

“The truth remains that cybercrime will continue to persist, but constant enlightenment and tightening the loose edges around our cyber system is the key. People should be careful about how they manage their websites, what they accept on their phone.

Oyedeji said the government must show the will to curb the social media hacking menace.

He said: “We should strengthen our Cybercrime Act, we should discourage a system that justifies crimes such as hacking. The government must show the will to tackle this menace too. The people must be properly taught on protecting themselves from such act.