Dr Isa Pantami has charged all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) under the Federal Ministry of Communications to work towards ensuring that they get certified by the International Standard Organization (ISO).
TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports the Communications Minister gave the charge on Tuesday in his keynote address during the official presentation of ISO 27001: 2013 Certificate to the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).
While charging all Agencies under the Federal Ministry of Communications to work towards ensuring they are all ISO Certified, Pantami stressed the certification will help in checkmating the menace of Cybercrime in Nigeria.
“NITDA is the first public organization in the country’s IT cycle to be ISO 27001: 2013 certified; this was a process I initiated during my time as the DG NITDA; an unprecedented achievement in the history of the Agency.
“I urge all Agencies under the Federal Ministry of Communications to work towards ensuring they are all ISO Certified, this will help in checkmating the menace of Cybercrime in Nigeria,” Pantami said.
Meanwhile, Pantami exhorted management of the NITDA not to drop their guard as surveillance audit will be done periodically, stressing that “getting certification is one thing, retaining it is another task”.
Presentation of ISO 27001; 2013 Certificate by the Honourable Minister of Communications, @DrIsaPantami to #DGNITDA, alongside the MD Digital Jewels, Adedoyin Odunfa and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr Musa Istifanus Fuktar.#FMoCtoday#FMoC19 pic.twitter.com/udQFGNX7yp
— Fed. Min. of Comms, Innovation & Digital Economy (@FMCIDENigeria) September 17, 2019
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The NITDA on Tuesday received the ISO 27001: 2013 Certificate award, attaining the milestone as the first government organisation in the country to attain such certification.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization.
National bodies that are members of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical committees established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity.
The ISO/IEC 27000 family of standards helps organizations keep information assets secure. Using this family of standards helps an organization to manage the security of assets such as financial information, intellectual property, employee details or information entrusted by third parties.
ISO/IEC 27001 is the best-known standard in the family providing requirements for an information security management system (ISMS). There are more than a dozen standards in the 27000 family, including the ISO 27001: 2013, which the NITDA has achieved.
This International Standard has been prepared to provide requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and continually improving an information security management system.
According to Mr Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director General of NITDA, at the ISO 27001: 2013 Certificate award presentation, the Agency passed through 7 processes before attaining the ISO 27001: 2013 Certification.
“We have documented all our processes to set standards for other MDAs in Nigeria. The Agency passed through 7 processes before attaining the ISO 27001: 2013 Certification.
“This is the first Government organisation in the country to attain such Certification. The operational standard you find in NITDA is exactly what you will find in other countries around the globe,” Inuwa said.
Also, Acting Director, Cybersecurity Unit of NITDA, Dr Dimie Wariowei, at the event, made known that 20 staff of NITDA went through the ISO auditing training process and were now certified auditors.