The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, has strongly berated the escalating threat posed by cyber attacks to the military establishment.
The CNS who was represented by the Chief Staff Officer, Naval Training Command, Rear Admiral Dan Atakpa articulated this concern during the culmination ceremony of the Nigerian Navy’s third Inter- Command Communication and Cyberdrills Competition 2023, held at NNS Quorra and Beecroft. This event spanned from July 31st to August 4th.
The CNS commended the significance of the competition, characterizing it as a pivotal platform for honing and enhancing the cyber security preparedness of the military.
He emphasized the importance of fortifying the military against cyber threats, particularly in leveraging cyberspace for both operational and administrative purposes within the Nigerian Navy.
Expanding on his remarks, he highlighted that the competition effectively demonstrated the participants’ capabilities and dedication to safeguarding the military’s critical data and systems.
Rear Admiral Olusanya Abiodun Bankole
This, in turn, contributes to the augmentation of individual skill sets, further solidifying the military’s resilience against cyber attacks.
According to him, “I am particularly pleased with the events that took place during this period especially the introduction of cyberdrills and the hackathon. As you all know, cyber-attacks are growing threats to our military. In recent years, we have seen a number of high-profile cyber-attacks against organizations both military and civil.
“This competition has given us the opportunity to drill ourselves and improve our cyber security posture and to make our military more resilient to cyber-attacks especially in the use of the cyberspace for operations and administration in the Nigerian Navy. We have talented teams of cybersecurity professionals as was demonstrated during the hackathon exercise. This further shows our capacity and commitment to protecting our military’s data and systems by enhancing our individual skills.
“As we are aware, Communication is a critical and pivotal element in modern warfare and administration, be it on land, sea, air, space or cyber space. Effective and secure communication links have always been a fundamental requirement for navies, which modern fleets rely heavily on radio and satellite technologies. The increasing build-up of the network-centric environment in the military and capable networks for voice as well as data-transmissions is becoming even more important in military operations.
He congratulated all participants and winning teams for their outstanding effort in the competition and encourage all participants to never relax their oars and take advantage of what was learnt.
In his address, Rear Admiral Olusanya Abiodun Bankole, who serves as both the convener of the competition and the Chief of Communication and Information Technology, highlighted that the event would contribute to bolstering the Navy’s strength and resilience.
He also emphasized its role in motivating officers to persist in their pursuit of training and personal growth.
“By testing our forces in these areas, we can identify any weaknesses and take steps to address them. I am confident that the lessons learned from this competition will make our forces stronger and more resilient.
“I want to encourage all the participants to continue training and developing themselves in these areas and also putting everything we have learnt into practice and especially to be more confident in the Nigerian Navy’s future.
I also want to encourage Commands to continue this trend by conducting Inter-Command competition to prepare their men suitable for this competition,” he said.
